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City's General Fund. This is well below the average and the median <br />for Florida's other municipal utilities. As shown on Attachment A, of <br />32 Florida municipal electric utilities, only 5 utilities transfer <br />less than 6 percent of their revenues to their general funds, while <br />another 6 also transfer at the same 6 percent -rate as Vero Beach, and <br />the remaining 20 utilities transfer at rates between 7 percent and 26 <br />percent. Accordingly, the magnitude of the City's General Fund <br />transfer cannot be said to be unreasonable by any standard, and <br />certainly not relative to the standard articulated by the Fifth DCA. <br />With regard to the Town's and County's assertions that they may <br />evict' the City from their rights-of-way (or from their ,geographic <br />limits altogether), the City firmly believes that. this issue - who, as <br />between the Town and County, on the one hand, and the Florida Public <br />Service Commission, on the other, may say what utility serves what <br />customers - belongs before the Florida Public Service Commission. In <br />the Grid Bill, the Florida Legislature expressly gave the PSC the <br />exclusive and superior jurisdiction over service territories, and over <br />the "planning, development, and maintenance of a coordinated electric <br />power grid throughout the state of Florida" and the "responsibility of <br />avoiding the uneconomic duplication of facilities." Public Service <br />Comm'n. v. Fuller, 551 So. 2d 1210, 1212 (Fla. 1989);- Fla. Stat. § <br />366.04(5). Further, the PSC has exercised its exclusive jurisdiction <br />with respect to the City's service ,area by approving the territorial <br />agreements through its Territorial' Orders. <br />As discussed briefly below, the City believes that the referendum <br />provisions of Section 366.04(7), Florida Statutes, do not apply to the <br />City. Notwithstanding the City's position, however, as a gesture of <br />good faith to address the concerns of its customers, the City has <br />authorized its Staff to work cooperatively with the Town, the County, <br />and other interested •customers toward holding a referendum and toward <br />developing an ordinance to establish a utility authority with <br />geographic representation to "operate the business of the electric <br />utility" as contemplated by that statute. <br />The City's Interests <br />The City of Vero Beach <br />service to its customers at <br />with maintaining reliability, <br />good utility practice, and, <br />endeavors to provide reliable electric <br />the lowest reasonable cost, consistent <br />operating its system'in accordance'with <br />like most municipal utilities in the <br />United States and in Florida,. earning a reasonable return' on its <br />investment, which the City's Electric Utility transfers to support its <br />General Fund. The City's service is highly. reliable; in fact, the <br />City's service is better than Florida's investor-owned utilities by <br />virtually every standard reliability metric. <br />• <br />10 <br />as <br />• <br />• <br />