The Gainesville Regional Utilities authority board announced fluoride will be removed from GRU water and released its annual budget at a meeting Wednesday night.
Fluoride to be removed from GRU water supply
The GRU board said fluoride will remain in the water until its supply of the mineral runs out by July 1.
The announcement came as a result of Senate Bill 7012, which would prevent municipalities from adding fluoride to drinking water. Gov. Ron DeSantis said he plans to sign the bill.
“I would assume we’re either going to be done on June 30, or we’re going to run out of chemical first,” GRU Vice-Chair David Haslam said.
Director Robert Skinner said GRU stopped purchasing the additives for the water in recent months to prepare for the bill.
GRU Director Craig Carter announces departure
Craig Carter, one of the three directors, stopped to address the room at the end of the meeting and announced he’s departing from the board. Carter was appointed to the GRU board by Gov. Ron DeSantis in October 2023. He said he notified the governor's office that the next meeting on June 11 would be his last with the board.
Carter said his term was supposed to end in October and he hadn’t heard back from the governor’s office regarding his departure.
“They have been nonresponsive, so I made the move,” Carter said.
2026 fiscal year budget
GRU approved a proposed fiscal year budget for 2026, which included a 1.75% increase for water and a 1.0% increase for wastewater, with no change in electric and gas rates.
Ed Bielarski, the CEO of GRU, noted the discrepancy in rates between the average municipalities and GRU in the years prior. The gap is closing, he said.
In September 2022, the average residential electric bill rate was over $30 higher for GRU customers than the municipal average. The gap has shrunk to less than $10 more, according to the GRU’s presentation.
There may still be more increases to customer rates going forward, Bielarski said, and rate increases will become more common as GRU becomes more comparable to other Florida municipality rates. This period of lower rate increases is the board’s attempt at getting competitive with other municipal rates
“We are in this transition where we’re trying to resituate ourselves,” Bielarski said.
GRU’s recent increase in revenues and a rate stabilization fund it established have been beneficial, he said.
“We’re able to pay down more debt and do it the way we’re supposed to as a business,” he said.
The 2026 budget aims to make accelerated debt reduction a priority, Bielarski said. This would decline interest rates over time and improve GRU’s financial health.
Public comments
Four community members provided public comments throughout the meeting, three of whom spoke more than once.
One speaker, 70-year-old Gainesville resident Jim Konish, pushed back on GRU’s financial statements, claiming some elements weren’t included, such as rates for non-Gainesville residents.
“We’re not competitive,” Konish said. “Our nonresidential rates are off the charts.”
Another commenter, Gainesville resident Chuck Ross, raised concerns that funding allocated for capital projects was not being used, and that fund transfers may not be properly represented in the financial statements.
“Capital spending is down, I see on a regular basis,” Ross said. “We’re saving money by not spending what’s allocated to keep our plant up to date. That’s a problem.”
Ed Bielarski responded by noting that utility accounting can be difficult to understand. He said he calculated profit by removing transfers to ensure the numbers were properly represented.
Angela Casteel, a 49-year-old GRU customer, raised concerns about fluoride in the water and expressed frustration with what she described as under-promotion of GRU’s customer advocacy program. The customer advocacy program aims to provide customers with one-on-one assistance with utility issues, including appeals and payment-assistance programs.
Struggling customers Casteel spoke with weren’t aware of the program, she said. Others have had issues with security deposit letters.
Bielarski said there are signs advertising the advocacy group and staff members are actively promoting it around town. He added that GRU’s security deposit letters are part of a business decision, and he advises customers to call and explain their situations to potentially reduce their deposits.
The next GRU authority board meeting is Wednesday, June 11.
Contact Logan McBride at lmcbride@alligator.org. Follow him on X @LoganDMcBride
Logan McBride is a journalism junior and the Summer 2025 city commission reporter. In his free time, he enjoys watching TV shows or playing basketball at Southwest Rec. He is also a big football fan and will die for Dak Prescott.
