The Tongue River Valley Joint Powers Board (TRVJPB) is soliciting funds from its partners for continuing operations. The Sheridan County School District #1 has already appropriated $25,000 in response to the request. The Towns of Dayton and Ranchester, will discuss potential appropriations at their next available council meetings. This additional funding will afford the necessary time to market and obtain new customers for natural gas services and the ability to make the required interest payments on the USDA-RD loan of approximately $10,500/month.
MDU is a valuable partner who supports the success of TRVJPB. The TRVJPB currently has an operating agreement with MDU and is working with them on a marketing campaign in April and May to provide free estimates for natural gas services lines so that residents can prepare and budget for the next heating season. A typical residential service line connection including the meter and regulator has ranged from $2,500 to $3,000. The TRVJPB would like to reach its goal of 65-70 new customers per year over the next two years to add to the existing 65 customers. This would bring the total to 200 customers which is needed to meet the break-even financial analysis completed in 2016. In the long term, the TRVJPB would like to obtain a total of 600 to 700 new customers allowing them to repay the debt in full in 20 to 30 years.
USDA-RD has and continues to be an excellent partner for this project and without them, natural gas in
these communities would not be possible. The USDA-RD wants this project to succeed not only for this
community but for other communities in the state attempting to replicate the project using USDA-RD
funds. The USDA-RD has several tools to further assist the TRVJPB while it attempts to obtain the
necessary sign-ups to cash flow its debt obligations, including suspension of interest payments for up to
2-years and grant funds for service line hook-ups for low-income homeowners. The TRVJPB understands how important this project is for the sustainability and growth of our communities and thank the community for their continual support. We also want to thank our partners for their support in the past and respectfully ask for their support moving forward.
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Last modified: March 11, 2022