It will now be up to the courts to decide exactly how much the V.I. Waste Management Authority owes the Public Services Commission.
The WMA has been engaged in a protracted dispute with the PSC over what it says are incorrectly calculated assessment fees. According to the authority, the vast majority of its funds come from government allocations to the tune of $43.7 million. This, they argue, should not constitute part of the agency's “gross operating revenue,” the figure PSC bases its assessment calculations on.
Instead, according to the appeal petition filed in Superior court, WMA's gross operating revenue for FY 2025 was only $2.3 million, as evidenced by recent audits. Thus, they conclude, the WMA owes just over $22,000 in assessment fees rather than the $311,000 the PSC is demanding.
The matter hinges on whose interpretation of Title 30 VIC Section 34 is correct. The relevant statute defines “gross operating revenues” as “the gross operating revenues of a public utility derived from extraterritorial regulated operations in the last preceding calendar year.”
Hon. Sigrid M. Tejo has been assigned to hear the appeal.
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