Yakama tax turns up on some Wapato power bills

Parker Heights fruit grower and packer Rob Valicoff first noticed the charge when his summer irrigation pumping bill arrived in the mail last month.

The bill from Pacific Power included a franchise tax of 3 percent to the Yakama Nation.

The problem is none of Valicoff’s usage occurred on the 1.2 million-acre reservation.

Pacific Power officials are promising to investigate the problem and refund all unwarranted charges.

Valicoff isn’t alone.

Yakima County Assessor Dave Cook said two other power customers, who like Valicoff have Wapato mailing addresses, called him to question the charge.

Cook said all three are for irrigation pumping, called a demand charge, that is billed once a year after the irrigation season ends.

Cook said each one told him the utility said it got the location information from the Assessor’s Office.

Regional Manager Clark Satre said the information may have come from a review of the department’s property information Web site.

Valicoff said the tax was imposed on about three of the 12 pumping plants he uses in his fruit-growing operation. He was charged the tax last year but thought the error had been corrected.

The extra charges, he said, run from $20 to $50.

“A lot of people don’t actually see it. It’s not that big an amount,” he said.

Satre said Monday he has found that four electrical service accounts for Valicoff Fruit Co. were charged the tax due to a coding error. Two of those accounts were corrected, leaving two that weren’t rectified.

He said it appears to be a case of human error.

“We will resolve it. If we are inappropriately collecting the fee from customers, we will make good on that,” Satre said.

The Yakama Nation imposed the tax several years ago, since upheld on appeal, for allowing the Portland-based utility to have power transmission facilities on the reservation.

Satre said the tax on reservation customers brings in about $500,000 per year that is paid to the nation.

• David Lester can be reached at 577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.