Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill June 12 to further establish the GRU Authority’s control over Gainesville Regional Utilities, putting what could be the final cap on a yearslong battle.
The bill, which focuses primarily on municipal utilities that provide service outside their city limits, was amended to add the subsection impacting GRU.
This is the latest development in a three-year battle over the utility that has included two city referendums, legal battles before Florida’s District Courts of Appeal and now two major state bills.
In June 2023, DeSantis signed a law ending Gainesville’s 116 years of control, switching to a five-member board appointed by the governor.
The city responded with two referendums looking to restore local control. The first, approved by 73% of voters in 2024, was thrown out by a judge over misleading ballot language. In 2025, residents once again voted in favor of restoring local control over the utility.
But the new law signed by DeSantis may prevent that from happening.
The 24-word subsection — which passed 85-26 in the Florida House and 30-6 in the Senate — reinforces state control.
“The subject of a regional utilities authority created by the Legislature through charter amendment after January 1, 2023, is expressly preempted to the state,” the bill reads.
A preemption keeps local governments from altering the policy or rules on a topic. This one keeps Gainesville from making changes or reclaiming control of GRU, because its governance is now reserved for the state.
Gainesville is the only city in the state impacted by this subsection.
Gainesville Commissioner Bryan Eastman said the city isn’t quitting its fight for control over the utility.
“Our city attorney has put forward arguments to the District Court of Appeals showing that this provision was overbroad, poorly written and may not do what they intended for it to do,” Eastman said. “We’re continuing to follow through on that.”
Eastman disagreed with the language of the bill. Usually, when something is preempted to the state, he said it’s very clear, like gun laws. The city can’t pass any rules related to firearms, and only state laws related to firearms are on the books.
Eastman added it was “weird” and “confusing” to preempt something that only exists at the local level.
He said he believes the bill was made in a rush and may have been drafted out of fear the city would win its appeal.
Eastman said the city recently filed an argument that the law doesn’t impact ongoing appeals, like battles with the authority over the legality of Gainesville’s 2024 and 2025 referendums. Both legal battles halted the implementation of the referendums.
Eastman has long been critical of the authority board, questioning its accountability to local customers, he said. The relationship between the city and the board has continued to strain as the situation becomes more political, he added.
Eastman said taxpayers have lost over $30 million under the promise bills will decrease, but rates have stayed the same across the board since 2023.
The $30 million figure refers to money the city no longer receives from GRU’s general fund transfer, which reallocates money from utilities to other city expenses. In 2023, the city’s GFT was $33.5 million.
He said the model of a governor-appointed board is unstable. It doesn’t answer the ratepayers, he added, and it is overwhelmingly opposed by its own customers.
Eastman said it’s clear the state wants an independent, appointed board or more control over the city, and the commission has remained open to the possibility — but there needs to be a change from the current model, he added.
In GRU CEO Edward Bielarski’s eye, the new law may ruin the city’s chances of regaining control over the utilities.
“I think the chances for the city to prevail are between slim and none, and slim’s out of town,” Bielarski said.
The bill is the Legislature’s finishing blow, fulfilling the purpose of the initial 2023 state bill, he said. Once the city fought to change its charter, he added, the board went to the Legislature and explained the state’s framework allowed Gainesville to amend its charter. The state responded with an emphatic “no,” Bielarski said.
Bielarski called the city’s arguments “tired,” "disingenuous" and not representative of what is learned in civics classes.
Bielarski said comments about the board raising rates are a misrepresentation shared by Gainesville commissioners. He said they ignore the fact the city was planning to raise electric rates by 9% and increase water waste order rates by 15% in three years.
Since taking over, he said the authority board has kept electric rates the same, raised wastewater rates by 6% and paid down almost $200 million in debt.
The board also created a “tier structure” that decreased the bills of roughly 59% of customers in 2024.
“They completely ignore the fact that they misgoverned GRU to the point that we had the highest rates in the state,” Bielarski said. “We had debt that was four times, on average, larger than any municipal utility in the state.”
GRU’s current debt load is around $1.7 billion — the second highest in the state under Jacksonville Electric Authority’s roughly $3.3 billion. GRU’s long-term debt-to-net position ratio is four times higher than the state average.
In 2022, Gainesville had the second-highest average bill per 1,000 kilowatt hours in the state, just behind Key West. The average U.S. household consumes around 1,080 kilowatt hours per year.
Bielarski said virtually all the money the city isn’t receiving from GRU has gone toward paying off the utility’s debt, and its success in paying off nearly $2 billion in debt the past three years is setting up a bright future. Debt agencies have noticed, he added, and lower interest rates from them are leading to more available funds.
Bielarski believes the authority board is accountable for this change, and its members are active local residents whom customers can reach. When alluding to the electorate voting against the board, he added, the city has failed to consider the nearly 40% of GRU customers who live outside of city limits and couldn’t vote on the referendums.
For Chuck Ross, a Gainesville resident and retired accountant who attends nearly every GRU meeting, the issues with the utility lie with its management, not its service.
Ross said the authority board has consistently dismissed public commenters expressing concerns at meetings and ignored some of the utility’s needs. Items pass with no discussion, he added.
“We have a serious issue with the transparency of a board,” Ross said, “and the rest is an accountability issue.”
Contact Logan McBride at lmcbride@alligator.org. Follow him on X @logandmcbride.
Logan McBride is a fourth-year journalism student and this summer's general assignment reporter. He previously served as a reporter for the city/county commission, K-12 education and track & field. Logan enjoys watching sports, going to the movies and playing basketball. When he's not working, you can find him on adventures with his friends, cuddling with his cat Max, or with his girlfriend.
