The Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) Authority approved its budget and customer rates for the next fiscal year at its Wednesday meeting, the first with Eric Lawson serving as chair and Ed Bielarski as GRU general manager.
Lawson suggested the meeting’s first motion and proposed to make Bielarski the permanent general manager/CEO of the utility instead of retaining an interim in the title.
Lawson said Bielarksi has experience in the role and reiterated previous board discussion that a national search likely wouldn’t yield candidates as GRU navigates political turmoil with the new board.
Lawson added that he thinks Bielarski will put a transition plan in place when the time is right, and other board members agreed. The motion, made by Board Member Craig Carter, to make Bielarski the permanent general manager passed unanimously.
All customer rates for electricity, water, wastewater and gas will remain at the current level heading into the 2025 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Previous versions of the budget included increases in some of the rates but all were listed as below the rate schedule originally passed by the City Commission in 2021.
The new rate schedule also eliminates the proposed increases listed in the seven-year plan passed in 2021.
The changes come as GRU holds back more of the general services contribution (GSC) than predicted in the 2021 plan or the 10-year debt reduction plan passed in spring 2023 by the City Commission and confirmed by the authority.
The board members confirmed a GSC of just over $8.5 million. In the current fiscal year, GRU sent $15.3 million to Gainesville’s general government, although earlier this month, the authority said it intended to keep another $3 million from that transfer.
GRU will send its budget to the Gainesville City Commission as required by law. The city has entered budget season without knowing how much money would be sent through the GSC.
City staff have presented two budget scenarios, one using a $15.3 million GSC and one assuming no GSC funding. They can now budget with the $8.5 million number.
The GRU Authority also confirmed two votes taken by the previous board concerning net metering and advanced metering infrastructure.
The resolutions approved Wednesday kept the changes in place through clarified language.
The net metering resolution changed how much GRU pays for solar energy generated by its customers, including homeowners. The policy only applies to new solar arrays.
GRU is currently installing smart meters as part of its advanced metering infrastructure network. However, for customers not wanting the new meters, the utility created an opt-out program.
The program was reaffirmed on Wednesday. If customers don’t want the smart meter, which sends usage information to GRU wirelessly, then they’ll need to pay a monthly fee that covers the cost of sending an employee to manually check the meter.