Published on February 13, 2008

SHEFFIELD — UPC Wind and the town that stands ready to host its 16-tower wind farm have negotiated a new agreement on what the company will pay the town in the way of property taxes.

It’s a simple agreement — a flat annual payment of $520,000.  It replaces a deal negotiated in 2006 that varied between $400,000 and $550,000 a year, depending on how state officials valued the wind farm.

“We feel very good about the amount the town will receive,” Max Aldrich, chairman of the Sheffield Selectmen, said Tuesday.  It is, he noted, toward the upper end of the range in the old agreement.  And, he added, “this new amendment virtually erases all risk for the town.”

“Now they can plan around $520,000 a year,” said Matt Kearns, who manages the Sheffield project for UPC Wind.  “You can replace a lot of culverts for $520,000.”

“We’ve had a great relationship with them,” Mr. Kearns said of the Sheffield Selectmen.  “When they came to us seeking greater certainty, we said, ‘Yeah, we want that too.’”

Lower or higher, Mr. Kearns said, “we wanted one payment rather than a range, so I can plug it into the model.”

The $520,000 a year substantially exceeds Sheffield’s general fund and highway budget, which Mr. Aldrich estimates at about $300,000 a year.

However the payment would not affect school taxes, which UPC Wind would pay directly to the state treasury under a formula that is currently under discussion in the State House.

“What happens to the money is totally up to the voters,” Mr. Aldrich said.  “A portion will be used against property taxes.  The balance is basically going to go into a mitigation fund, and be voted on by the taxpayers.”

The payments are due to start when the wind farm, still in the development stage, starts to produce power.

Although the “certificate of public good” issued last August by the state Public Service Board has been appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court, Mr. Kearns said he still expects to see power from the project by December this year.

Asked if he shares Mr. Kearns’ optimism, Mr. Aldrich replied, “I don’t know that I even want to speculate about that.”