OPINION: Vote “NO” on GRU referendum
OPINION
BY LEN CABRERA
The City of Gainesville will be holding a Special Election on November 4 to ask voters whether they want Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) to be governed by the City Commission or the GRU Authority, and we recommend voting “NO” because the change would likely lead to higher electric bills and a disruptive change in leadership, with Gainesville’s brand-new City Manager in charge of the utility.
Despite all of the online arguments about who said what in the past, voters should focus on the track record of the two bodies regarding electric rates.
The Gainesville City Commission passed a resolution to increase electric rates through 2027
Perhaps you remember that before the GRU Authority was established, Gainesville residents frequently showed up at City Commission meetings, pleading for reduced electric bills. Protests were held outside City Hall, and residents of the east side of Gainesville begged Commissioners to reduce their cost of living by reducing electric bills. In July 2022, over 3200 people signed a petition protesting increases in both electric rates and the fuel surcharge. Click here to see video of a protest from 2022.
Meanwhile, the City Commission passed a resolution in 2021 — still in effect — that pledged to increase electric base rates by 3% every year (after a 7% increase for Fiscal Year 2022) and increase wastewater rates by 5% every year through 2027. They also agreed on a debt reduction plan for GRU, largely because the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee told Mayor Harvey Ward to “take drastic action” on GRU debt or face removal from office.
At the July 18, 2021 City Commission meeting, then-Commissioner Harvey Ward said he wasn’t looking forward to the increases: “I don’t want to pay it myself. I believe it’s necessary… I want to point out that one of the reasons we are where we are, cost-wise, is that the people of Gainesville have consistently said, ‘We want renewable energy.’ And that predates everybody up here. Well, one of the ways we do that is by having a biomass plant, a renewable energy plan… Renewable energy is not as cheap as, say, coal.”
The rate increases were part of the City Commission’s debt reduction plan for GRU and were repeatedly portrayed as necessary to improve the financial health of the utility and avoid further scrutiny from the legislature.
In August 2023, knowing that the GRU Authority would take over governance of the utility on October 1, the City Commission raised electric rates by 3%, following their resolution. However, just a month later, the City Commission was already struggling to hold the rate increase to 3%; Tony Cunningham, who was then General Manager of GRU, warned that he might need to increase electric rates by 3.75%, although that was avoided after he and the City Manager came to an agreement about their budgets.
At the August 2023 meeting, Commissioner Bryan Eastman said, “I wouldn’t want one of the last actions that the people take as direct overseers of GRU through us to be, you know, raising up GRU rates… I think that this is a decision that Governor Ron DeSantis and his political appointees can determine when they come in… I feel uncomfortable making this decision, considering where we are.” However, he voted for the motion to raise the rates.
Ward, who also voted to raise the rates, said, “It’s never easy or simple to vote for a rate increase… I do want to reiterate –- this is the recommendation of our professional staff.”
The GRU Authority has kept rates flat, avoiding increase of almost 8% in electric bills
If the City Commission had kept control of GRU, the bill for a residence using 1,000 kWh/month would be almost 8% higher than it is now. Instead, the Authority has kept electric rates flat while paying down more debt than the City Commission had planned by this point.
Under the GRU Authority, residential customers using 1,000 kWh/month saw their October bills decline by 24% between 2023 and 2024 (largely due to a reduction in the fuel adjustment surcharge), and the bill went down another 3% for October 2025 after the Authority increased the lowest-priced service tier from 850 kWh to 1,000 kWh, reducing the price for electricity between those two levels. Although the rates above 1,000 kWh increased slightly when the tiers were adjusted, customers who used up to about 1,450 kWh/month all saw a reduction in their bills from 2024 to 2025.
Residential customers using 1,000 kWh/month are paying $11.88/month less than they would be paying under the City’s resolution to increase rates by 3% per year, saving $142 per year under the GRU Authority’s control.
[These calculations assume: 1) a 3% increase in rates for each of the past two years; 2) a 50-cent increase in the customer charge each year, following the City Commission’s recent pattern; and 3) the usage tiers would have stayed the same under the City Commission.]
City Commission could immediately raise rates if the referendum passes
Given that the resolution is still in effect, the City Commission could raise electric rates at their first meeting after the referendum, and they would likely argue that the increases are necessary because GRU has reduced the amount of money transferred to the City (the General Fund Transfer) for two years. Note that an increase in rates would do nothing to improve your utility service or improve GRU’s financial status. It would just provide more revenue to GRU that could be transferred to the City to increase its budget — basically an indirect tax increase.
We noticed while computing theoretical electric bills that the City collects a 10% utility tax on all parts of your electric bill, including the amount you pay the State in Gross Receipts Tax. That tax gets passed through from GRU to the City and was projected to be about $16.3 million in FY2025. It seems that the City Commissioners don’t think taking $16.3 million from GRU’s customers is enough because they claim the GRU Authority is “stealing money from the citizens of Gainesville.”
Who will run GRU? A City Manager who has been in the role for 16 days?
A second issue is the question of who will run GRU if the referendum passes. The ballot language says the utility will be run by a “CITY COMMISSION-APPOINTED CHARTER OFFICER,” but previous discussions have indicated that this would be the City Manager.
At the April 18, 2024 City Commission meeting, City Attorney Daniel Nee made the following comment regarding the decision to put “Charter Officer” instead of “City Manager” in the ballot language: “Part of the consideration was not to mislead anyone, to put personalities in place… There won’t be this City Manager always.” Nee said the City’s Charter specifies that the utility will go back under the City Manager “by default.”
The City does not, in fact, have the City Manager they had at that time. On November 4, Andrew Persons will have been City Manager for 16 days, and he has no utility management experience; his background is in urban planning and land use. Even if he had utility experience, he already has a more-than-full-time job, and managing GRU is a full-time job.
The other Charter Officers are the City Attorney, the Director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion, the City Clerk, and the City Auditor. Which of these would you trust to take over management of the utility, including making decisions about issuing bonds, managing debt, making recommendations on rates, managing a large staff, and setting the fuel adjustment rate? In an era of reduced staffing in all of the Charter offices, which Charter Officer has the time to take on the management of a utility?
Clearly, the City of Gainesville is not prepared to run GRU. The only reason this referendum is on the ballot is that they miss having the ability to transfer all of GRU’s profits (or more than its profits) to the City’s pet projects.
Vote “NO”
Gainesville voters should reject the City Commission’s attempt to regain control of the utility and the ability to transfer funds to cover gaps in their General Government budget. Vote “NO” to keep your electric bills low and retain the current management, which, in spite of keeping rates flat, has paid off $15 million more of the utility’s debt than the City Commission had planned by this date.
Early voting will take place on Friday, October 31; Saturday, November 1; and Sunday, November 2 at the Millhopper Library and the Supervisor of Elections Office. The election will be held on Tuesday, November 4.
Thank you for this.
City residents should vote Yes which is the only way they will have control over GRU, which they own. The current commission can be voted out if they don’t like what they are doing while the “authority” answers only to the Governor and state, who hate the city and our county.
Bro, nobody gets voted out here. That’s what single party control does.
And YOU should hate our city/county government. The state has its own problems but at least people COULD get voted out (Gov is statewide, as you know).
I hate that it has to be this way but unless/until we get fair representation here (not *all* at-large elections), this is the only way we have balance.
Booby, sorry to hear you can’t win local elections. Try harder.
Not sorry you can’t win state elections.
If you did, we’d be out picking up pills and searching for pants somewhere.
The difference You voted is that we Democrats don’t try to get the feds to take over Tallahassee and disenfranchise Florida Residences. We try harder the next election and that’s what you should do.
I hope this concept is not too difficult for you, but it probably is. Look up “democracy”, “elections”, “ownership of property”, etc. You are clearly confused.
No, instead you burn buildings, loot businesses and tear down statues.
That’s unbridled lawlessness and worthy of a 3rd world country, but I’m guessing that’s what many of you $0ci@li$ts are hoping for.
Alachua county and Gainesville elections are skewed left by the fact that students are allowed to vote in our local elections. Until we change this, we will have a one party system.
Horrible that residents can vote. The audacity. Do you actually have any data showing they skew it or is this just your opinion?
Show the polling data Clay. You kep making this claim but offer no evidence.
And county residents should vote NO since THEY don’t own it but are forced to buy from them. Oh wait…they can’t! It’s interesting how you always cry foul and go out of your way to tie Desantis and Tallahassee to the GRUAB yet give a complete pass to GCC forcing county residents to buy a product they don’t want.
The City owns GRU and started it over 100 years ago. The county doesn’t. When the power grab by the state was voted on Rep Hinson – the only representative actually elected by Gainesville or Alachu County residents – offered an amendment to allow county residents to opt out of GRU. It was rejected by the traitors who wrote the bill. If county residents want to get their power elsewhere – where they will not have a say in the utilities governance there either – they should lobby the county commissioners and make it an issue.
Did you skip over the part about the 3200 people who signed the petition to not have rates increased? Commissioners once again showed they could care less about the voters.
That selective blindness will be your downfall.
Yeah, a petition to lower prices usually works to get prices lowered. I always show one to the check out girl at Winn Dixie and she always tells me to GFY.
Touched another nerve did I ?
You just can’t stand when the very people you continue to support don’t listen, (as you claim they do), to their constituents.
I’m a county resident and never got this, as I could never vote for FPL when I lived in South Florida.
The GCC does not have the power to force county residents to buy GRU electricity. Take it up with the county, which is the local elected government answering to and governing county residents.
Absolutely not! EVERYONE (that is able) SHOULD VOTE NO! The city ran the utility into ground and had the highest rates in the state because the city commission decided it would just take billions from the utility for its pet projects. Not even to fund road improvement or infrastructure. The GRU authority has a fiduciary responsibility to the consumers NOT funding billions in pork projects for the city commission or the Mayor. VOTE NO!
That is a year’s worth of decision made a Commission before a vote “out” is even possible. And that assumes that the there is a someone running against the incumbent. This logic is not a sound means of supporting your argument.
Vote YES. The important value to defend is Home Rule.
The slapdash appointments to the Authority, where some didn’t meet legal criteria, the turn over and the lack of a full board indicates to me the State does not give a hoot and now even less so with Perry and Clemons gone.
I have confidence that GRU professional staff can hold things in place as the City Manager finds a new GRU leader that reports to him.
“Home rule” = single-party control with an iron fist, by politicians who do not fear losing elections. Nope.
Try harder Dan, that’s what we Democrats are doing in state elections. We’re not asking the feds to take over Tallahassee.
You assume that the staff would be willing to return working under the Commission (or the City Manager who has no experience). The GRU staff are professional, but the change would be testing their ethical responses to demands of the City Manager/City Commission – which they may decide are not worth hanging around for.
You meant to say “reports to the commission.”
Most of us who have been around know that’s exactly what the Mayor and Commission will be looking for – someone to do as you and others here have done, bend a knee and pledge their allegiance to their rulers and their fiscal incompetence.
This is not about GRU, but continuing to poke the bear. The demosheep learned nothing in last years landslide.
Voting NO is the only way to keep the City Commission from running GRU into the ground like almost happened in prior years. Ask them WHO will actually manage GRU since they have no one on City staff that is qualified. Ask them how they will continue with significant debt reduction, as required by the state, without their prior plan to raise rate to do so. Never forget they have received the $16.3 million in utility tax in 2025 which they never talk about. Remember all they want is to drain funds from all GRU customers.
Vote NO to keep rates LOW! GRU should print yard signs like this. You’re welcome!
It’s strange the same peeps who hate corporate monopolies, then support govt owned monopolies. When politicians ran GRU, it was nearly ruined.
When can we expect criminal charges in regard to the 2.1 billion dollar wood burner???
The Commission from 20yrs. ago should be held liable for that one. It was already approved before it was voted on.
Leaving out those who should also have a vote on GRU Utilities who live outside the City limits makes this vote unrealistic as we are forced to have GRU instead of other utilities. Vote NO !
Key point and worthy of repeating: “The City Commission passed a resolution in 2021 — still in effect — that pledged to increase electric base rates by 3% every year (after a 7% increase for Fiscal Year 2022) and increase wastewater rates by 5% every year through 2027.”
If voters don’t think the Commission will do everything they can to make up for the couple, “off years” they weren’t able to increase rates, I’ve got oceanfront property in Nebraska for you.
In effect, the City Commissioners and Mayor could care less how high utility rates go because they don’t pay their utilities; YOU, the utility and taxpaying residents of Gainesville pay for them. If anyone thinks the Gainesville City Commission cares how you feel, I suggest you reread the article and pay close attention to the paragraph mentioning the protest and petition that was submitted by your neighbors.
Thanks for laying it all out Len.
Thank you Len. Right on!
The rich people who can afford power at any cost will make sure this passes.
Those that are that rich also have solar and are making out like bandits with GRU paying them way over market rate.
Wish I could vote NO…..however the Marxists have rigged the outcome by preventing county residents from voting on this. Taxation without representation doesn’t sit well and if this passes I suggest all GRU county residents be allowed to purchase their utilities elsewhere like Clay or Duke.
It’s not a tax lou.
We need another alternative besides GRU here in Gainesville. This will elevate some of the costs. No matter if GRU brings in new leadership or not the rates will still go up.
Another great analysis, thanks for compiling all of this information in one location Len.
I’m quite sure “the word” has gone out to the Libs to vote yes and they’ll happily do what they’re told in our little dystopia.
If “expertise” is one’s litmus test for running, or more accurately, governing GRU then let’s all be honest about what a joke the current Authority is.
Of note, the first board that was appointed resigned en masse when it was found that they didn’t meet the basic criteria required by law.
Now we have a second appointed board. The law requires a board of five members. Currently there are only four members. And two of those members no longer qualify. One’s term has expired. The other, who previously met requirements for representing a commercial, high-use energy entity, has retired, so no longer fills that requirement. The other two members have no expertise. One owns a scooter company, one is a lacrosse coach.
As for when governance is returned to the city, the City Manager will not “run” the utility, so please stop saying that. For more than 100 years GRU has been run by industry experts and that will not change.
What will change is there will be no king CEO who is awarded an obscenely high salary while at the same time bemoaning the (real, exaggerated or imagined) fiscal challenges the utility faces.
Suffice it to say, given your continuous fealty and support for the Commission of Fiscally Incompetent Idiots, we know where your expertise lies.
You’re one of the reasons we are where we are; crime, taxes, and until the GRU Authority, unrestrained utility rate increases.
A lame personal attack by someone too cowardly to sign their real full name diminishes your point
Someone unwilling to accept their responsibility and role in the demise of the community they claim to love shows your hypocrisy.
It’s your political and $0ci@li$t ideologies that have done nothing but diminish any credibility you ever thought you had except to those who are incapable of seeing you as the dimwit you are and the botching up of the community you continue to promote.
It’s not surprising that you would try to confuse two separate things: the operations manager of GRU and the governing board.
The new governing board will be the city commission, none of whom have any expertise in running a utility.
A charter officer will, in fact, oversee the day-to-day operations of the utility (“run the utility”) under the direction of the city commission. And I’m sure the next city manager’s salary will match or exceed Bielarski’s “obscenely high” salary (I’ll be sure to remind you of this when you’re silent on that salary), and their responsibility for running a utility will certainly be cited as justification for that salary.
What about the 2. 1 billion dollar wood burner????
The current GRU governing board may not be perfect, but it has proven to be far more competent than the panel of professional political hacks and unemployables that populate the city commission. Hardly a month goes by without the city commission demonstrating a complete lack of ability to manage their current responsibilities, let alone getting another shot at bankrupting GRU.
And GRU did have excellent management all the way to the top until the day queen Pegeen ran off the manager to get somebody who would rubber stamp her incompetent negotiations that have beggared the city for three generations. Thankfully the Legislature has seen fit to cut off the city’s grift from county rate payers and give us some hope for the future.
Bottch Job is obsessed with ‘Kings’ because that’s all the liberal talking points have to offer. Stealing $$$ from the GRU rate players for leftist fantasies is taxation without representation for county residents and is total BS.
lou, the owners of utilities do what they want with profits and without the consent of customers. In fact FPL used some of theirs illegally to donate $200,000 in dark money to help that sleaze Sen Perry in his 2018 race. Of course he was one of the main movers in th GRU takeover.
Susan, thanks for the update on the babysitters of the now orphaned GRU. The lack of oversight is staggerring and demonstrates the purpose of the state politicians who implemented hostile take over was punishing political adversaries, not serious oversight, which by the way could have been accomplished without the takeover of other peoples’ property.
I’m sure you know you can ignore “You voted” who’s 2 tricks are blasting anything either of our 2 commissions here do and making personal attacks on them and other posters who he has never met.
Do you and Susan take turns doing tricks downtown?
You know the old saying, sharing is caring.
With all due respect you do not know what you assume to know about the board members. So a few of them are humble that doesn’t mean you know what they are capable of managing. I am sure you don’t care and that’s okay too.
David A as in Arreola? If that is you, you’re as fiscally incompetent as the rest and share some responsibility for the mess you’ve created.
That’s not okay and why GRU should be maintained by others who aren’t taking GRU profits for their own political agendas.
I love it when Susan “the Fiscal Butcher” Bottcher adds her two cents on any topic. She is obviously the smartest person in Gainesville, well next to Kyoto protocol Hanrahan. The Fiscal Butcher supports the City getting its piggy bank back and tough luck if you are a customer without a vote. This isn’t about GRU customers and it isn’t being driven by GRU customers. This is about power and the control it gives those elites over the small folks. If this GRU recapture event was rooted in the customer base at all, the vote would be open to ALL GRU customers and not just those within the Gainesville city limits. CoG is afraid of including all GRU customers in the vote because they know the distrust the commission has sown over the previous years. Bottcher is the same face and voice of the CoG that doesnt want a true vote based the actual number of GRU customers.
Vote “NO” unless you actually want higher utility rates.
The new state-appointed GRU Authority is tasked with running GRU efficiently, for the good of everyone.
The corrupt politicians on the Gainesville City Commission ran GRU like their own personal piggy-bank, racking up over $1.7 BILLION in debt by stealing from GRU to line their own pockets.
Any evidence Dad? Show it.
GRU Residential New Rate Structure Is Merely a Cost-Shift – NOT “SAVINGS”
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) has changed its residential electric rate structure by expanding the lower-priced Tier of electricity. Previously customers paid the lower “Tier 1” rate for the first 850 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power each month, and any usage above that was charged at a higher “Tier 2” rate. Starting in 2025, the Tier 1 threshold has been raised to 1,000 kWh, meaning more of a household’s monthly usage is now billed at the cheaper rate of 8.48 cents per kWh. Only usage above 1000 kWh falls into Tier 2, which was been increased from 11.2 cents to 12.1 cents per kWh to balance out the change.
GRU claims that for most residential GRU electric customers, this shift means lower bills. Households using between 850 and 1000 kWh per month will now pay less because a larger share of their electricity is charged at the lower rate. For example, a customer using exactly 1,000 kWh each month will save $4.05 on their bill. Those using 850 kWh or less will not see any change because they were already being billed fully in the lower Tier. Higher use households above 1450will pay more without limit since the higher usage rate above 1,000 kWh has gone up. GRU has refused to say if this change to their residential electric rate structure is revenue-neutral.
That seems so anti-liberal of you, GRU decides to charge those who make more money, more and charge those that make next to nothing a lower rate. Hmmm, I thought liberals were all about tax the rich, but not in Gainesville eh? Just tax the little guy so that the well off people can have it easier with lower rates. Gotcha, does that mean we are also abandoning the “tax the rich” theme? Asking for a friend.
Readers should SHARE this excellent editorial on their social media, and encourage everyone they know in the City of Gainesville to vote “No” on this amendment!
And let’s not forget that the commission also raised property taxes after they lost GRU in order to replace the money they were no longer able to steal from the utility. They’re not going to give that back if this passes (and it will). And I guarantee they will start spending up all of GRU’s money just like they did before. So, citizens will end up paying higher property taxes and even higher GRU rates now. Thanks regressives.