MidAmerican wind property tax update

The MEC wind  property tax information in the several preceding  posts has been made available to several state agencies. The Iowa department of revenue, Iowa department of management, State treasurers office, and the state auditors office. It has also been sent to numerous elected officials. To date, public officials have not acted on this information that I'm aware of, except the auditors office,  who replied that they would have several staff members examine the information. The department of revenue plainly noted several times during my phone call with them that they would not be devoting staff time to this and disagreed heavily with the information sent to them, though they didn't list any information that explained the discrepancies between the utility county property tax valuations and the utility's IUB and federal agency filings. I've had more than one county assessor and supervisor mention verbally that this issue is controlled at the state level, and out of their hands, though the department of revenue seems to clearly state otherwise.

It might just be coincidence, but I couldn't help remembering the following instance, where the former governor replaced replaced replaced an Iowa utilities board member, shortly after a IUB board ruling that MidAmerican clearly disliked. It received minimal coverage in the media, even though the ousted board member bluntly suggested essentially that state regulators and elected officials need need more insulation from the utility lobby in Iowa. Please check out the following articles, the first from Utility Dive. The article quoted the following from ousted board member Sheila Tipton -
"Administrative agencies, including the Iowa Utilities Board, are intended to be independent and not subject to political pressures or threats of retaliation,"

                 
KCCI in Des Moines also noted this issue, and included the following quote from the ousted board member- Tipton said Branstad's shakeup threatens the board's independence and sends a message to "get in line" and favor utilities. Yeah, pretty blunt alright.

Bleedingheartland had the most in depth  coverage of this that I was able to find online, including the full letter Sheila Tipton sent to the governors office.

I've advocated for locally owned renewables for a long time. As a result, I've spent a fair amount of time at the state legislature. anyone who visits the legislature can see firsthand, the amount of influence that MidAmerican and the rest of the utility lobby yield there. Frankly, I concur that regulators, elected officials, and other folks  shouldn't have to be concerned about utility pressure. Also, a  MidAmerican wind turbine is sited of a small parcel of farmland that I own.  So, I've had several interactions with the utility during the past 15 plus years, besides my current research into the property tax issue. During that time,  the following letter from my local insurance provider arrived.

 I scanned it onto the computer. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the letter had indeed been opened, and taped shut again. In this instance, the utility had access to detailed information about me, including the location of my farming operation. The post office was unable to explain why this letters route traveled through MidAmerican, Like I said, things like this are probably just a coincidence...   

MidAmerican Wind Property Tax Update

As mentioned previously, last year, I sent quite lot of information compiled on the MEC wind property tax issue, and a list of questions to the Department of Management (DOM), and the Department of Revenue (IDR). I asked them to meet with a few interested parties about this issue, or at least, answer the questions. Instead, I received a non scheduled phone call from from the department of revenue that was hands down the rudest conversation I have ever had with a public employee. I was forced to become pretty assertive to even get my concerns heard. The conversation focused on two main areas.

1-the fact that MidAmerican reported lower wind valuations in Calhoun County than the utility. After quite a bit of discussion, the caller wanted to know who at the IUB had provided the information referenced. The Calhoun assessor has never mentioned the staff persons name.

2- the fact that MidAmerican is declaring wind assets under the Iowa Utility replacement excise tax.
IDR insisted that was not happening. I typed notes of our conversation and sent them to both department contacts, in order to clarify my concerns. I received the following reply- The only on the record statement from IDR on this.

   

              Still disagreement that this was even happening , even though I mentioned I had an email from a MidAmerican employee verifying that it was.

I don't think this is fair for the utility to do this when an independent wind project probably can't. Also, I'm betting that state and local government are losing potential revenue because of this, though state and local government haven't been helpful to date determining what amount. I'm guessing MidAmerican wouldn't report taxes this way unless it was benefiting their bottom line.

In addition, much information included on the IDR website seems to support my opinion.

The states special valuation of wind property also suggests the items reported by MidAmerican in the replacement tax program should be taxed in the wind valuation instead.

and finally, IDR the following memo to me when I contacted them about this issue some time back.

Comments from from IDR are welcome , especially answers to the question list referenced in a previous post.

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MidAmerican Wind Property Tax Update

The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) is another potential source for verifying the accuracy of wind  property tax filings submitted by MidAmerican to Iowa counties for determining valuations. A wealth of information on the utility's wind projects and other generation assets are submitted by the utility in order to get approval by state regulators
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Unfortunately, most of that information is confidential and not available to Iowans. Interested tax payers could jump through the hoops and forms necessary to access this information (see IUB letter below), but they would likely have to sign a non disclosure agreement. How then, do interested persons use that information to insure accuracy of the utility's property tax filings?

As an example, The Calhoun County assessor was able to receive an exact cost of the turbines located in that county when she called the IUB. She contacted the IUB when I filed a petition to review MidAmerican's turbine valuations. The information IUB provided supported my position, but the review board dismissed the petition anyway. So, having access to IUB records would useful if I were to pursue an appeal process. However, it appears unlikely I could access that information, or use it in a public appeal process, or share it with the media if I believe that I didn't receive fair treatment from public officials in this matter.

When a letter was sent to the IUB asking for this same information for several more of MidAmerican's wind projects. This was the response received from an IUB staff person.

      


Frankly, it would have been quicker the for the IUB staff person to just provide the same project cost information for these projects that was provided to the Calhoun county assessor. Instead he notes that much of this information is not available online invited the interested parties to drive to Des Moines and look for it ourselves. He also notes the one Docket available online,     RPU-2013-0003 . 
I had already downloaded a document from the six pages of filings listed for this docket, which included an actual cost listing for MidAmerican's wind VII project. The request for information letter sent to the IUB referenced that this information appeared to be available, and asked them to provide that same information for additional projects.  I also asked for the specific project cost items listed in this filing, but figured I would only get the basic information highlighted below. 

    

 It's understandable that IUB would maintain confidentiality while the utility is requesting project bids. Much of projects specifics of this heavily redacted 50 plus page document were blanked out.  But, IUB rightly saw no reason to redact the previous completed wind project cost, since no project specifics were listed. This will be useful information to verify the utility's property tax filings for the "wind vii" locations.

However, since this request letter was sent to the IUB,  the document above no longer appears to be listed when you search the IUB electronic filing system.  A Wikipedia page for MidAmerican's Highland wind project lists a now broken link to the same docket, probably the same document I downloaded.

       


 So now , anyone who travels to Des Moines for this information will probably find it a waste of their time. It also no longer appears to be available online . IUB has this information readily available, so why won't they provide it? Especially since MidAmerican provides information about their wind project costs to FERC. Why can't the public easily access this basic IUB info to see if those wind project costs match the Utility's county and federal filings, Unless the numbers don't match for some reason.   
Comment from the IUB is welcome.  

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