Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Will switching to a municipal electric utility in Decorah mean losing $161,000 a year in property tax payments?"

(Mike asks, "If a municipal electric utility takes over the Alliant Energy facilities in Decorah, doesn't that mean Decorah loses out on the $161,000 a year in property taxes Alliant pays?")

Mr. Answer Person says: "Neither a municipal electric utility nor Alliant energy would pay property taxes.  In both cases, they make "payments in lieu of taxes" (sometimes called "PILOT" because of the first letters).

An earlier Ask Mr. Answer Person article showed that Alliant energy did, indeed, make $161,000 in payments in lieu of property taxes during the last fiscal year.  The projections used in the feasibility study commissioned by Decorah Power forecast payments in lieu of property taxes of $572,000 by a municipal electric utility--in other words, more than three times what Alliant is currently paying.

Of course, this is a projection and not a guarantee.  Here's a list of PILOT payments made to city governments by other municipal utilities in Iowa:

Cedar Falls Utilities $175,300.00 annually
Waverly Municipal Electric  $83,314.00 annually
Spencer Utilites  $26,934.00 annually
Independence Utilities $8,606.37 annually
Osage Municipal Utilites $5,390.00 annually