INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Selling the Vero Beach electric utility to Florida Power & Light Co. continues to generate money for local government coffers.
In the new budget year it's likely to mean hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the county property appraiser.
Like residential customers of the Vero Beach power customers, governments that had facilities on the Vero Beach electric grid are seeing lower electric bills now that they are in FPL's service area.
But governments also are seeing additional tax revenue as a result of the sale.
When FPL bought the city electric system in December for $185 million, city-owned properties for substations and other assets were transferred to the privately owned utility and and became taxable. The city of Vero Beach had been exempt from those taxes.
FPL, which is not exempt, was assessed the $58.1 million this year, said Indian River County Property Appraiser Wesley Davis.
"(The $58.1 million) is a lot to come on the tax roll just from one act of City Council," Davis said. "It's made it a win for everybody."
Vero Beach, for example, is expected to get about $145,310 a year in taxes from FPL, Davis said.
The property appraiser alerted officials this summer that more money was coming their way, Vero Beach Mayor Val Zudans said. The city already was counting on it when next year's budget was being developed, he said.
"We didn't know how much it was going to be until the property appraiser put a value on that property," Zudans said. The money will reduce the city's loss of revenue from electric bills, Zudans said.
Indian River County stands to get $256,968.68 in tax revenue from FPL, according to the property appraiser. That's based on an additional $70 million in assessed property value, Davis said.
For the county, the money balances out revenue lost from franchise fees, County Administrator Jason Brown said. The county is saving about $400,000 on its electric bills, he said.
FPL still has until Sept. 6 to dispute its assessment, like any taxpayer, Davis said.