The Lake Apopka Natural Gas District (LANGD) Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a closing agreement stating that LANGD is to pay Orange County a settlement for unpaid taxes and related interest in the amount of $11,763.90 covering February 1, 2012 through Sunday, April 30.
The board reviewed the closing agreement at its monthly meeting on Monday, April 24, at the LANGD headquarter in Winter Garden.
No portion of the settlement for the unpaid taxes contains a penalty, the agreement says.
Starting Monday, May 1, LANGD will include in its taxable sales report the amount of any separately stated gross tax receipts collected from natural gas customers located in unincorporated Orange County. This report will be sent to the Orange County comptroller on a monthly basis.
According to Carole Barice, LANGD attorney, the Orange County comptroller wants LANGD to sign the agreement first because the district is the smaller of the two entities. Afterward, Orange County will sign the document.
According to the closing agreement found with the April 24 LANGD meeting agenda, the Orange County comptroller conducted a review of LANGD’s compliance with the law that governs public service taxes for the period of February 1, 2012 through January 31, 2015. Afterward, the county notified LANGD about the district owing additional money to the county, to which LANGD protested the taxability of certain receipts for public service taxes.
Although the district and Orange County has disagreed over this issue, the county is authorized by Florida state statute to meet with LANGD halfway over the additional amounts discussed rather than take on the expense of resolving both parties’ respective claims though litigation.
The closing agreement states that LANGD will not sue Orange County over the settlement payment or contest the county any longer.
“But if it changes legislatively, administratively or judicially, we will not be bound by it any longer,” Barice said. “That was something they didn’t have in the agreement but I had them put in there because our board was concerned about that, and so they put that in.”
