FPL stunned by $2.3M tax bill from Puerto Rico city

Hurricane-ravaged Bayamón has since exempted FPL from list.

After helping restore power in blacked-out Puerto Rico, Florida Power & Light Co. officials bristled at receiving a tax bill of more than $2.3 million from the city of Bayamón on the storm-battered island, records show.

The tax bill required payment related to hurricane restoration work separate from other utility expenditures that will be reimbursed by the U.S. government.

The top executive at Juno Beachbased FPL called the charges “inappropriate,” saying utility workers gave up holidays with their families and spent months performing nonprofit work during a crisis in Puerto Rico.

“Mr. Mayor, the honor and humanity of your city’s people stands in striking contrast to the inappropriate monetary demands issued by your finance director,” FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy wrote in a letter to Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz.

Since that response, Bayamón

“has exempted FPL from the billing,” FPL spokeswoman Lauren Hills said last week.

Utilities in states including California, Missouri and Illinois also received millions of dollars in bills for tax and license fees from local governments in Puerto Rico, The New York Times reported. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to reimburse mainland utilities for their expenses, but not necessarily for local taxes and fees if these were not covered in contracts, the newspaper reported.

Letters from Bayamón’s finance director Aug. 29 demanded $2 million from FPL within five days for “construction taxes” and an additional $322,395.83 for “other taxes, penalties and interest” within 30 days, according to Silagy’s Sept. 18 letter to the city’s mayor.

After Hurricane Maria, some 800 FPL employees left their homes in Florida to help restore power in Puerto Rico, and the utility sent more than 100 trucks and tons of equipment, Silagy said. Many employees worked 16-hour days for 30 straight days at a time, often under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, he said.

“Our team members risked their lives for you and your constituents, and never once did any of them complain,” Silagy said. “In fact, we all felt immensely proud to support our fellow Americans.”

Silagy expressed his “sincere hope” that the bills were “sent in error” or without the mayor’s knowledge.