COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

With his predictions proving farther and farther off the mark, south barrier island utility activist and Florida Power & Light ally, Steven Faherty, now has supporters appearing before the Vero Beach City Council brandishing his “Utility Update” newsletter taped to an American flag.

That Faherty and his allies feel they must literally cloak their message in an American flag suggests they are loosing confidence that the public still believes their unrealistic claims.

Faherty first built support for the sale by promising the loss of some $5,5 million in annual revenue to the city’s general fund could be made up with interesting earnings off some $156 million he claimed the city would make on the sale.  It is now clear there will be no such proceeds.  Rather, at least according to FPL’s last proposal, the customers of Vero Electric would have to pay a $26 million surcharge. Further, the people of Vero Beach would face sharp budget costs on drastic increases in taxes.

With Harry Howle now joining Laura Moss in a challenge to Mayor Richard Winger and Councilwoman Amelia Graves, the FPL-sponsored and instigated propaganda has only just begun.