COMMENTARY

“Shores leaders either need to accept the consequences of the Town’s earlier decision to annex to the north, or they need to prevail on FPL to sell its Shores customers to Vero Electric.”

MARK SCHUMANN

“It’s time to stop this insanity. Now it’s time to work a deal,” Councilwoman Pilar Turner said earlier this week.  Essentially, Turner was urging her fellow Council members to agree to the demands of Indian River Shores leaders, who seek to force the sale of Vero Electric’s Shores customer base to Florida Power & Light.

City officials contend any so-called “partial sale” must be structured to ensure Vero Electric’s remaining customers will not end up paying higher rates. Given the significant, long-term commitments Vero Beach has made in order to properly serve the Shores, any sales price, they say, will likely have to be close to $64 million. Shores leaders and FPL representatives contend $13 million, not $64 million, is a reasonable price.

Shores Mayor Brian Barefoot recently explained to the members of the Florida Public Service Commission that it is untenable for some Shores residents to be paying lower rates than others. Essentially, Barefoot is acknowledging that the real problem in the Shores is discontent rising out of comparison. To distract the PSC from this central issue, Barefoot, quite irresponsibly, also argues that Vero Beach is operating an unregulated monopoly, and is “forcing” Shores residents to “subsidize the operations of a City that is unaccountable to them.”

With the help of the barrier island weekly, whose publisher lives in Indian River Shores in a home purchase for $1 million in 2004, Barefoot has successfully persuaded his constituents that they are victims. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

For starters, and Shores leaders knew this when they first asked Vero Beach to provide utilities to their Town, Vero Electric, like nearly every municipally owned utility, returns a portion of its revenues to the City’s general fund. Call it a profit. Call it a return on investment. Whatever you call it, it is the America way. In fact, Barefoot and his fellow well-to-do Shores residents would not be living in Florida’s wealthiest community, if they had not enjoyed successful careers with profitable companies.

Beyond being completely unreasonable, Barefoot’s complaints about Vero Electric’s 6 percent transfer to the City’s general fund are disingenuous. In fact, when Shores leaders first asked Vero Beach to electrify their barrier island enclave, they agreed to pay Vero Electric’s rates, plus a 10 percent surcharge. Vero Beach is no longer assessing that surcharge, though the City has every right to do so.

Finally, the Shores, and not Vero Beach, is responsible for putting the Town is a position where some of its residents are served by Vero Electric, and others by FPL. In 1984, eager for more tax revenue, the Shores annexed to the north of the original Town limits. The annexed area is served by FPL. If this situation is now unacceptable to the Shores, and if the sale of Vero Electric’s Shores customers cannot be achieved at a price that works for everyone, there is solution.

FPL has offered Vero Beach approximately $3,800 per meter for the 3,400 Shores customers served by Vero Electric.  As an alternative, FPL could sell to Vero Beach the 1000 or so meters its serves within the Town for $3,800 per customer. Certainly Vero Beach could raise $3.8 million to purchase the right to serve the remainder of the Shores.

In the long run, the real winners would be residents of Indian River Shores. As Vero Beach’s rates continue to come down, FPL’s are sure to rise. Though unreported by the island weekly, FPL is seeking approval for a $1.337 billion rate increase. If Vero Electric were to serve all of the Shores, the Town’s residents to the north could be spared FPL’s future rate increase, and all Shores property owners could avoid the higher taxes that will otherwise be needed to continue funding litigation.

Most importantly, if Vero Electric continues to serve the Shores, and if the Town drops its ill-advised legal action against Vero Beach, any notions of the Shores some day annexing the central and south barrier island could be put to rest. To be sure, the death of the dream of a separate municipality for the barrier island would come as a great disappointment to the barrier island weekly. On the bright side, though, the Shores would avoid the most unpleasant experience of swallowing more than can be comfortably digested. As they say, there are two ways of becoming discontent. Not getting what you want is one. Getting what you want is the other.

Make no mistake about it, there are those within Indian River Shores, Barefoot is likely one of them, who are thinking several moves beyond the power sale. Ultimately, what they seek is an opportunity to annex the central and south barrier island. As Turner said, “It’s time to stop this insanity.”

Shores leaders need to accept the consequences of the Town’s earlier decision to annex to the north, or they need to prevail on FPL to sell its Shores customers to Vero Electric. Failing that, they should at least drop their lawsuit and stop wasting their taxpayers’ money.