… the price of natural gas — one of many factors going into the cost of electricity — is expected to spike again during the winter months of 2023. City officials in Hoisington and across the state are resorting to a variety of measures to mitigate the increasing cost of purchased power, a big chunk of a monthly electric bill. Hoisington City Manager Jonathan Mitchell said that some of those out-of-the-box measures have been going on for a while. “A thing that we’ve done internally is to make changes to our staffing structure,” Mitchell said. “We’re reducing staff; trying to be as lean and mean as we can and still get things done.” Fifteen years ago, Mitchell said, city employees numbered 41 in the community’s various departments. That number has since been reduced to 27. “We’re always taking costs and purchases very seriously,” he said. “But prices are rising everywhere; it’s across the board.”
Source: Great Bend Tribune
