Shelling

Even under the protection of Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy proceedings, April is still a month for shelling out tax payments. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. paid $67.8 million last Wednesday in property tax payments to the 49 counties in which it operates in the northern half of California. Combined with an additional $145 million the utility will pay in local franchise fees during the month, the company plans to distribute $212 million to California cities and counties by the end of April. The PG&E utility’s CEO Gordon Smith emphasized that the tax payments are part of the company’s role in helping “fund vital public services,” undoubtedly a fact the companies will stress in promoting their proposed reorganization of the utility in bankruptcy court, spinning off all the nondistribution operations. State officials are strongly opposing this, offering their alternative plan that would keep the utility intact. The major property tax payment by the utility was $11.6 million to San Luis Obispo County, along the central California coast where the PG&E Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Plant is located. That is more than double the next largest county payment, which was $5.3 million to Alameda County in the East San Francisco Bay..