I am concerned by the two Sunday Edition columns by Russ Lemmon about the sale of the Vero Beach Utility. How Russ knows all he talks about I do not know, since to my knowledge he has not attended any City Council meeting or Utility Commission meetings where information was presented about the sale. He seems to think that if five clones of Pilar Turner were on the City Council the sale would have been completed. This, in spite of the fact that the lawyer hired by Pilar Turner, at $500 per hour, has not been able to find a way to complete the sale.
The main problem is that the lawyers for the bond holders for FMPA and OUC are not agreeable to any of the terms of the sale so far. The five current members of the Vero Beach City Council are all in favor of the sale to FP&L, however, not at a price that would bankrupt the City. To date, the details on how to get it completed have not been found by this or the previous City Council or the lawyer hired by the City Council that Russ seems so fond of. The city is trying to lower the rates for all ratepayers.
However, if the transfer to the city from the electric utility is lowered by $1 million (which would lower the electric rate by 1 percent), the city real estate tax paid by city residents would have to be raised by 25 percent to match this $1 million loss in revenue. All city residents need to keep this in mind at the election this November. I hope that all city residents will vote and not the usual 30 percent. And if you are 30 or under, please increase the voting rate from the 69 out of 1400 eligible voters who voted in the last election.
Herb Whittall
City of Vero Beach Utility Commission member
Editor’s note 1 (revised): City property taxes comprise approximately 10 percent of city resident’s total real estate tax bill. An increase of 25 percent as mentioned above, equates to far less than a 25 percent increase in a city resident’s overall property tax bill.
Editors’s note 2: This letter was distributed to InsideVero and was also published in this morning’s edition of the Press Journal.
Indian River Guardian 
I know he meant “clones”. I thank Mr. Whittall–for this letter and for his comments made at Tuesday’s COVB Council meeting.
Why is it that every time Mr. Whittall gets up to talk about the sale, even when he knows that the current sales agreement with FPL is dead, he always prefaces his statements with these five words….”I am for the sale”. For what sale I ask?