For 5 months, a group of concerned taxpayers has been in communication with Bureau Valley School in an effort to understand claims that the wind turbine is profitable.

Those claims have been made in public testimony by the president of the Bureau Valley School Board, himself an employee of a wind turbine company. After attempts to obtain information from Bureau Valley were unsuccessful, a Freedom of Information Act request was filed. From numbers acquired from this FOIA request, it was determined that there is an accumulated 5-year loss of more than $130,000.

At the end of 10 years, when the last of the turbine’s loan payments are scheduled to be made, the district can be projected to have a deficit of more than $260,000 if the expenses or repairs don’t increase. In the most recent year alone, the annual insurance and maintenance expenses have risen by more than $2,000.