Supervisors hear about possible utility cost savings

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors always like to hear about ways the County can save money, and as it turns out, some of our newest buildings aren’t as energy efficient as one might think. That’s where PATH comes in.

Rudy Watkins (above), General Counsel & VP of Development with the PATH Company, made a presentation to the Board during Wednesday’s meeting detailing how the PATH Company can come in and find ways to make the County offices operate more efficiently. PATH looked at the current expenditures and found that the County spends close to half a million dollars a year for utilities such as electric and water.

The Chimney Square building in Picayune and the County jail in Millard show that they are costing approximately four dollars per square foot for utilities, which is well above the average of one dollar per square foot for most buildings.

If the Board chooses to allow PATH to identify where the problems are and then engineer and implement a correction, the County could potentially see a savings of $80,000 per year.

This was the first meeting with the PATH Company, but the Board acknowledged they will meet with PATH again to discuss the possibility of working together in the near future. The Board won’t make a decision on hiring PATH until a more detailed break-down of the cost’s and savings can be completed.