Preview: Big, critical decisions for Gainesville in April
April is set to be a very impactful month for the Commission, with big decisions that will live with us for a long time. These are decisions to rezone the majority of our residential land, make big de
April is set to be a very impactful month for the Commission, with big decisions that will live with us for a long time. These are decisions to rezone the majority of our residential land, make big decisions on our city budgets, and whether GRU will remain owned by the people it serves. Most of these are just the start of these processes, but they will set the tone for what comes after.
First, some good news for April:
It’s easy to get bogged down by bad news and bad things happening in the world/locally. I want to start these off with a bit of good news & things to look forward to in the city as we go into the next month. Thankfully this month has some big positives coming up:
GRU bills will be lower!
After a hard summer of high GRU bills there’s about to be some rate relief. With falling natural gas prices, GRU’s fuel adjustment rate will be bringing bills down, just in time for a hotter summer.
This will bring our 1,000 kWh rate to $167.61, right as other utilities are raising their fuel adjustment to make up for low rates last year. This will make our GRU rates lower than Duke Energy’s ($171.83) and a number of municipal utilities. This amounts to about $15 on your monthly bill, which isn’t huge, but is a step in the right direction.
Westside Park Playground is open
After months of waiting, the amazing space themed playground of Westside Park is now open to the public. It’s unlike any playground I’ve seen. It was designed to be “fully accessible” to children with disabilities, which is great to ensure everyone feels welcome at our parks. But it’s also made a very unique park experience that feels safer for young children (like my toddler) and gives ample space to run and climb. Go check it out, it’s filled up with kids right now enjoying the last bit of spring weather and having a good time on the new playground.
The major issues we’ll be dealing with in April
The final unveiling of the GRU authority bill
This bill has dominated the conversation of our city since it was announced on March 7th. Essentially, the bill would take Gainesville Regional Utilities away from local oversight by the City Commission and give it to appointees of the Governor while still leaving it under the City. You can read the draft bill here.
It’s a terrible idea for more reasons than I could get into in this short synopsis, but the Alachua County Labor Coalition put together a whole website on the possible ramifications that you can check out if you’re interested.
In short all I can say is that structural decisions of government like this have huge implications far beyond what you’d expect. Sweeping changes like these need to be done carefully, and the people impacted should have a say in them. I see no way this new structure will help solve the issues GRU has (debt, rates, older facilities). In the end hard decisions are going to need to be made to solve those regardless of who’s in charge.
What this does do is take a $425 million utility that desperately needs steadiness and stability and injects it with a completely experimental structure unlike anywhere else in the United States. It puts our local utility in the middle of a high-profile, partisan political environment with huge decision making authority and no real accountability to the local residents. It splits our government in two, with half of our city answering to an unelected state appointed board, one with enormous power over the daily operations of general government. No matter how you feel about Governor Ron Desantis, prior commission decisions related to GRU, or us as elected officials, this is a very, very bad idea. That’s why no other municipal utility in the United States is governed this way.
On April 10th Representative Clemons will come out with his final language for the bill. Our Commission has requested amendments be made so that, if a bill does pass, it will at least be something workable that gives our local community a voice in decision making. We’re also preparing legal counsel to try to defeat it in case common ground can’t be reached. That is leaving a lot of things up in the air, so we’ll need to see how this plays out.
If you want to help I’d direct you to the League of Women Voters who have been helping lead the charge on opposing the bill. They are joined by the Communications Workers of America (GRU’s labor union), The Sierra Club, the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, and others. Check out their Action Page for how you can help oppose this bill.
Setting the framework for the “more sustainable GRU”
Speaking of GRU, in late February the “Joint Legislative Auditing Committee” gave the city a proper dressing down at the capitol and required us to come back with a plan by October 1st to pay down GRU’s debt and bring a more sustainable GRU. That has been the central focus of our commission and our staff ever since and will dominate every decision we make over the next year.
The Commission is committed to this goal and ready to bring back the “bold moves” the committee requested, but it brings up a real question: what do we mean when we say “sustainability”? The experts on utility debt, the three big debt ratings agencies, rate GRU debt very highly with a “low risk” of default1. GRU’s debt is at $1.7 billion, which is high for a utility our size, but all utilities hold relatively high debt and pay it off over time, just like GRU is doing. “Sustainability” isn’t as black and white as you might think. We need specific goals with specific numbers to ensure we have actionable plans that get us somewhere real.
In April we will decide that framework. Is the goal to get to an industry average capitalization ratio? Is it to decrease our debt to funds available for debt service? If so, what is the timeline we are setting to get there? From there staff can work to meet those metrics through cuts, property tax increases, lowering of the general funds, or other long-term plans that get us to that place. This may seem in the weeds and bureaucratic, but it’s the basis upon which every other decision will be made and will have a tremendous impact on our city’s funding and structure going forward.
Reinstating of Exclusionary zoning
On April 19th the City Commission will have a special meeting to vote to reinstate the old zoning code in its entirety; reinstating single family zoning, lot requirements, and all the rest of the high-profile changes the previous commission passed to increase housing diversity and lower the cost of housing. It’s a huge change that is going to impact 61% of the residential zoning of our city.
This is almost certain to pass as four members are in favor of full repeal. After a full repeal and we go back to a “clean slate” they say they will begin anew the process of community engagement and finding reforms that they can support.
I’ve come out in opposition to this, not because I agree with every change the previous commission did, but because I believe land use reform needs to happen and we need to have a plan to do that before we repeal.
My proposal in February called for protecting single family zoning while allowing homes to be built on smaller lots. As I noted, my 1,100 sq. ft. home on .16 acres couldn’t be built in 96.2% of the single family zoned properties within the city of Gainesville. That’s a shame, and for young families like mine who are trying to buy their first homes it has been devastating.
My fear is that after a full repeal the political will to address this divisive and difficult issue just won’t be there. That can’t happen. There is consensus among experts that these restrictive land use regulations have a disastrous impact on our environment, on homeownership rates, on the cost of housing, and on our economy. Addressing these issues doesn’t have to be as divisive or heavy handed as the last commission did them, but we can’t pretend they’re not a problem.
As we speak, land use reforms like these are happening statewide in New York, Colorado, Montana, California, and many cities across the United States. They all take a slightly different flavor depending on where, because every community is different, but there is broad consensus that the status quo simply isn’t working.
I will be voting against reinstating the old zoning code with no reforms. I don’t believe I can morally put my name to something like that without at least trying to address the problems with our old zoning code. But a full repeal will pass, and I hope after it does we can find common sense solutions that balances the need to build more homes for more people while preserving what makes Gainesville special.
GRU bond ratings are very good: Fitch: A+; S&P: A; Moody’s AA3. Those are all higher than Florida Power & Light or Duke, and about the same as most other municipal utilities. That’s not to take away from the issues we have, namely high debt, but the talking points that GRU is near bankruptcy should be put to rest by these actual experts who certify that GRU is financially healthy.
This is a wonderful idea. Thanks Bryan.
Thanks for all your hard work on behalf of Gainesvilleans.