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Hernando to consider entering water talks
By WILL VAN SANT BROOKSVILLE -- With the proposed sale of Florida Water Services to two Panhandle towns now plagued by court challenges, financing questions and inquisitive regulators, a handful of local governments aim to make the utility giant's owner an offer it can't refuse. At 3 p.m. today, Hernando County commissioners will decide whether to allow their staff to enter talks with other interested governments and explore a possible purchase offer to Florida Water's owner, Minnesota-based Allete Inc. What is envisioned, those involved say, is not the purchase of the entire statewide system -- now being attempted by the towns of Milton and Gulf Breeze -- but only the acquisition of those Florida Water utilities within the jurisdictions of the local governments making the purchase bid. Though hard numbers have not been determined, Hernando County's up-front costs for Florida Water's Spring Hill utility, which serves some 33,000 customers, should be no more than $2-million above the roughly $40-million the county now has on the table, those involved say. That $40-million represents Hernando County's portion of the derailed purchase offer made by an earlier government consortium of which it was a part. According to attorneys for Hernando County, other governments who are working on the idea include the cities of Marco Island, Palm Coast and Deltona, and Marion and Osceola counties. "If they are successful, go for it," said Ed Gray, chairman of the authority formed by the Panhandle towns to purchase Florida Water. "They are finally doing what they should have done a year and a half ago . . . come up with an offer acceptable to the seller." Hernando County Attorney Garth Coller said Allete may look favorably on a serious purchase offer because bitter legal battles, less-than-hoped-for ratings on bonds the Panhandle authority hopes will finance their purchase, and wary state and federal regulators have jeopardized the deal. "Right now, all this is is really just an offer," Coller cautioned. "Are you interested in the sale of these items at this particular cost?" Allete corporate spokesman Eric Olson said the deal with the Panhandle authority was still viable as far as his company was concerned. He declined to speculate on whether his company would consider a separate offer of any kind or on whether the present sale was at risk. Any and all legal avenues to secure control of local water resources, Coller said, must be explored in the wake of a recent admission by the Panhandle authority that it views the ability to move water from one jurisdiction to another as a virtue of keeping the utility giant intact and under one owner. "That authority, we believe, is a straw man that will operate as Florida Water Services by virtue of a legal loophole," Coller said, referring to the now controversial state law under which Milton and Gulf Breeze formed Florida Water Services Authority. "Hernando County's water could very well go to Orlando or Tampa or Milton and Gulf Breeze." Coller said it had not yet been decided whether the governments considering a purchase offer would form a cooperative bond pool or create a government authority, an approach to utility ownership that has created detractors, Hernando County among them, since the proposed deal between the Panhandle towns and Florida Water was announced. "We really don't care about the details," Coller said. "What is important is acquiring the system at a reasonable cost." Monday, governments involved in the effort are to meet to consider their next move. -- Will Van Sant covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com .
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From today's Hernando Times |
