The city of Flagstaff's sustainability program has an image problem.

Many in the community, including at least one councilmember, are not exactly sure what it does on a day-to-day basis.

And it doesn't help that the program's activities and goals can't be explained in one sentence.

Nor that the program costs $273,000 a year, nearly three times the amount that is raised by the $2 fees on most monthly city water bills.

Sustainability Manager Nicole Woodman said the community supports the objectives and activities of her program, even if they can't quite put their finger on what sustainability means.

"Sustainability is such a broad concept, you can weave any component into any sector of our community," Woodman said.

For the record, the sustainability program is responsible for various environmental programs, including the voluntary pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions made by the City Council in September 2006, better known as the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

Woodman said a majority of the community that she has come into contact with are very supportive of the council's goal to reduce greenhouse gases.

The council recently formally reviewed the program after Councilmember Joe Haughey called for such an inspection a month ago during a council budget retreat.

At the time, Haughey said he didn't know much about the day-to-day activities of the program.

"I don't know what a sustainability specialist does for eight hours a day," Haughey said.

MEETING CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGE

But beyond its identity problems in the community, lies a more pressing problem: The sustainability program isn't actually paying for itself.

The $2-a-month environmental services fee found on local water bills was supposed to cover the cost of the program. But additional duties meant that the program needed supplemental funding, said the head of the sustainability and environmental section, Rebecca Sayers.

Currently, the program receives additional monies from the Environmental Services program fund balance — primarily collected from landfill tonnage fees.

For the program to pay for itself completely out of the $2 fee, the city would need to triple the current fee to $6 a month. The sustainability program currently costs $273,197 annually, paying for two full-time salaries as well as program costs.

The program does not receive any money from the city's general fund, which is facing a $13 million budget deficit during the next fiscal year, primarily due to a sharp decline in tax revenues.

The sustainability program did receive some funding from the general fund in the past, but that was eliminated during the first round of budget cuts last year.

Adoption of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement was the impetus for the formation of the program, with the city needing to do a greenhouse gas inventory and then prepare a sustainability plan to help guide the city on how to reduce its carbon footprint.

Woodman said many municipalities struggled to form similar sustainability programs as they also adopted the climate protection agreement. But the scarcity of real-world examples made it difficult.

"We are not unique by any means. And there is a lot of work to be done, too. It is, quite frankly, a huge elephant and where do you start?" Woodman asked.

With the inventory completed, Woodman is working to come up with various solutions to present to the city council for adoption.

NEW FUNDING SOURCE NEEDED

Using money from the city's Environment Services program fund balance, however, cannot continue indefinitely, officials concede.

In a best-case scenario, the city will need to find another way to pay for sustainability efforts by 2016.

Pat Bourque, the city's environmental services director, said the city is currently putting off several large construction projects and purchases of large vehicles. Currently, some of those funds are being diverted to the program.

The economy — not supplementing the sustainability program — led to the delay in equipment purchases, he said.

Trips to the city's landfill have dropped off as the economy has soured, Bourque said.

The city is expected to launch public meetings to gauge support for an increase in the $2-a-month environmental services fee. The information is expected to be delivered to the council in April, just in time for the city budget retreat.

Joe Ferguson can be reached at jferguson@azdailysun.com or 556-2253.