BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the February 18 GRU Authority meeting, the board responded to comments from the public, approved financial transactions to replenish capital project funds and refinance bonds, and voted for several changes to its Code of Business Conduct, including moving General Public Comment to the end of the meeting.
In response to a comment made during General Public Comment, CEO Ed Bielarski said the board has paid down close to $200 million in debt: “So that’s not a fictitious number; that’s a real number. And although we are asking for additional debt [later in the meeting], it’s a sawtooth type of process, and it was all planned this way, and it’s still part of the Debt Reduction Plan that was originally started at the City Commission… We’ve done better than what the City had planned, without base rate increases.” Chief Financial Officer Claudia Rasnick later clarified that GRU has paid down $177 million in debt…