To northern Palm Beach County community leaders, a deal that would place Seacoast Utilities in a private developer’s hands would produce one winner and 35,000 losers.
The winner would be Massachusetts developer George Whitten, whose Juniper Development Group would become a key player in mapping the future of a region poised for rapid growth.
Local officials say Whitten would earn his rank at the expense of Seacoast’s 35,000 customers, whom they think would see a 30 to 40 percent increase in utility bills to support a Juniper purchase and land lease exceeding $100 million.
“If there was ever a bad deal, this is it,” said County Commissioner Karen Marcus, whose district includes the four municipalities and unincorporated area served by Seacoast.
The county, Palm Beach Gardens, North Palm Beach, Lake Park and Juno Beach have joined forces to block the sale of the utility, which is owned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Juniper has offered the foundation $71 million in cash, loans and future connection charges for new customers. But the deal also includes a lease for the land under Seacoast’s utility plants, which could place the total bill over $100 million.
The sale still must be approved by the state Public Service Commission, which has scheduled public hearings in Palm Beach County on Sept. 28 and 29.
Leaders in the five communities thinkit is in the public interest for them to acquire the system through condemnation, and have drawn up their own plan to serve Seacoast’s current and future customers.
Palm Beach Gardens, which under the plan would have the most influence over the utility because the largest share of its customers live there, signed the agreement last Tuesday. North Palm Beach followed suit on Thursday.
The County Commission will discuss the agreement Tuesday, though commissioners and county officials already have made their feelings clear.
“(Whitten) intends to make $40 to $50 million on the utility over the next 10 years,” County Attorney Gary Brandenburg told the commission last week. Within 30 years, the number of customers served by Seacoast could reach 100,000.
While local leaders have not been shy about their opinions, Whitten has chosen not to comment to the media on the sale.
Though county officials believe a developer-owned utility would prove to be a burden to consumers, they hold out little hope for a denial of the sale. Local communities might be more successful in fighting future rate increases proposed by Juniper than the transfer of the utility, Brandenburg believes.
