BY MARK SCHUMANN

Brace yourself.  The many false claims being made in advance of the March 12 referendum on the sale of Vero Electric to Florida Power & Light may cause the political Geiger counter to register dangerously high levels of disingenuousness and dishonesty.

In fact, the willingness of politicians and political groups to mislead and even lie to the public may reach an all time high.   Clearly for some, it is no longer considered important to respect the process or to tell the truth.

This evening, I was visiting with friends when they received a call from a woman who said she was calling on behalf of Citizens for a Brighter Future, a political action group advocating the sale of Vero Electric to FPL.

Incredibly, the caller said, “FPL will pay the city about $179 million, which will help keep taxes low.”

That claim is outlandish.

First, FPL has offered $111.5 million in cash, of which the city will be lucky to have $4 million left over after paying off debt and buying its way out of wholesale power agreements.

Second, no one with a straight face claims the sale will not lead to higher city taxes.  As recently as yesterday, Finance Commission Chairman Peter Gorry confirmed for the Council that the city will be facing a $3 million budget shortfall if the sale goes through.

The city now collects $4 million in property taxes, so it is hard to fathom how it will be possible to close a $3 million budget gap without increasing taxes and cutting vital services.

The caller went on to say the deal was endorsed by both the Utilities and the Finance Commissions.  She did not  bother to explain that the members of those commissions who questioned the wisdom of selling the city’s most valuable asset, were sacked by Councilmembers Tracy Carroll, Craig Fletcher and Pilar Turner.  Ousted commission members were replaced by others more willing to let the Council troika have their way with the city.

A mailer sent out recently by Citizens for a Brighter Future claimed, “FPL will pay the city millions of dollars and provide yearly revenues through franchise fees.”

FPL’s rates are what they are.  A six percent franchise fee will be added to those rates and will be paid by city customers, not by FPL.

Next, Citizens for a Brighter Future claimed the rate savings will be 24 percent.  Period.  Well, they know many businesses will save less than 24 percent.  After adding the six percent franchise fee, even residential customers will be saving no more than 18 percent, less after FPL’s recently approved rate increases go into effect over the next few years.

The less than forthright mailers also suggested the sale of the electric system will not require the city to reduce or eliminate vital services.  The kindest assessment of that can be made of that claim is that it is naive and unrealistic.

Anyone fixated on electric rates is missing the larger picture.  The sale of Vero Electric is about opening development opportunities on the riverfront.  Ultimately, it is about the very survival of the city.

It would be easier to see the sale as the best solution for lowering electric rates, if the Council had first carefully and openly considered all its options, if it had followed an open bidding process, and if it had negotiated a deal on terms favorable to the city.

But the Council never put the sale out for competitive bidding, and it never asked the Utilities Commission or the Finance Commission to thoroughly consider all reasonable options.  Certainly the Council has failed to insist its transactional attorneys insist on terms fair to the city.

Perhaps that is why proponents of the sale are reduced to conjuring up the latest in local fiction in an effort to dup city voters into approving a deal which is clearly not in their best interest.