6.1. ERMUSR 05-13-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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V Summary of Amounts and Types of Payments 8 Contributions The study is based on a survey sent by APPA to all publicly owned utilities. The next two sections (sections V and VI) of the report summarize results for 348 public power systems that completed the survey. (Excluded from the summaries are 34 Tennessee Valley Authority distribution utilities, because these utilities' payments and contributions are limited under the terms of their wholesale power contract with TVA.) These 348 systems made a total of just over $1.0 billion in total payments and contributions to state and local government in 2006. As shown in Table 4, the overwhelming majority is payments in lieu of taxes (also called transfers to the general fund). The second largest category is gross receipts taxes; these taxes are collected by the utility, included in the utility's operating revenue and expense accounts, and remitted to the state or local government. In some states the gross receipts tax may be called a public utility tax or privilege tax. Table 4 Net Payments & Contributions to State & Local Governments Amount Percent Millions of Total Payments in Lieu of Taxes $711.5 67.2% Gross Receipts Tax $166.2 15.7% Other Taxes and Fees $126.7 12.0% Free or Reduced Cost Electric Services $40.7 3.8% Use of .Employees $5.8 0.5% Other, including Equipment and Materials 7.4 0.7% Total $1,058.3 100.0% Less: Services & Contributions RECEIVED 12.4' by the Utility FROM the Municipality Net Payments & Contributions $1,045.9 The number of utilities making each type of payment or contribution is detailed in Table 5. t The 348 utilities received $12.4 million in contributions and services from the municipality. This amount does not include any contributions or services for which the city has been reimbursed, either through direct billing or a transfer of funds. Free or reduced cost office space and water are the major services provided, while operations & maintenance, legal service, information technology services, engineering services and financial service employees are the predominant type of employee contributions received by the utility. The $12.4 million in free or reduced cost contributions and services provided by the municipality to the utility is subtracted from the $1,058.3 billion in payments and contributions from the utility to state and local government. The result is $1,045.9 billion in net payments and contributions by the 348 utilities in 2006. 7