CFP Pursues Increased Transfer from FPUA

September 12....The City of Fort Pierce (CFP) Commission met today to discuss their pursuit of an increased transfer amount from the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA). CFP City Manager told the Commission that this is simply a matter of clarification of what the transfer amount should be and asserted that the FPUA is an "enterprise fund" of the City. FPUA Director Bill Thiess told the Commission that there may not need to be an immediate rate increase, but that planned electric rate decreases would not be feasible if the increased transfer of $1.5 million occurred. The City needs increasing amounts of money to pay down their debt at an annual rate of about $5 million per year in the coming years. The increased millage rate proposal passed at the September 6 meeting was not discussed at all, but will be the subject of a September 19 and September 26 CFP commission meetings. Members of the FPUA Board attended today's meeting as guests. FPUA Board Chairman, Darrell Drummond, addressed the Commission, saying that the FPUA Board would be discussing the impact of the transfer at its next meeting, September 20, 2011 and must act in the best interests of the ratepayer.

Bottom line: Calling it a "clarification" doesn't take away the fact that the money, $5 million a year in the past, and $6.5 million a year in the future, came from the ratepayers and will come from them in the future.