The Bielarski of Gru's Bielarski is the result of billing errors by “well -intentioned decision” by 2023 City Commission

The General Manager of Gainesville Regional Utilities, Ed Bielarski, wrote in a letter to Mayor Harvey Ward on Thursday that a billing problem that was overloaded by customers in January was the result of a “well -intentioned decision” of the city commission in 2023.

The letter written in the name of the chairman of the GRU Authority, Eric Lawson, was an answer to a letter that was seen more than a week ago about the billing problem and what he regarded as a lack of urgency of GRU.

“As early as February 7, several commissioners and I were aware that both the fixed waste and the rainwater fees that should remain static on every account from month to month (unless the account service was changed by the user), had increased by several percent in an apparently random manner,” wrote in the letter on February 24th.

Local news: Evergreen Cemetery reveals a new app, renovation plans during the 169th anniversary celebration

In his answer, Bielarski wrote that around 20,000 customers were overloaded by a billing problem in connection with fixed waste and rainwater fees. Bielarski said GRU did not offer these services and that the problem is due to a “well -intentioned decision” of the city commissioner.

“.. The supply company and its leading corporation have taken measures to prevent customers from receiving two invoices in one month and ensuring shorter billing cycles.”

He wrote that the “change in the billing system led to the fees for non-metered services automatically collected when we started a new measuring device read calendar in January”.

“Non -metered services such as garbage, rainwater and flash are fixed fees and should not be driven,” wrote Bielarski.

Bielarski explained that the accounting calendar and the measuring device are determined by a “dynamic scheduler”, which determines when measuring devices should be read and charged for the year. GRU has worked with his billing provider to “ensure that this error will not be again will occur in the next January”.

The utility continues to write down customers who have experienced problems, and those who do not receive any creditworthiness in March will receive it in April.

Bielarski added that the supply company in constant communication with City Manager Cynthia Curry and director of public work was Brian Singleton.

Ward said in a recent interview with The Sun that the city and the Grue reduce the costs by containing the collection of fixed waste and rainwater fees for the statements of the customers of the customers. Ward said the city pays 800,000 $ 800,000 annually to take part in the billing process.

At its regular session on February 20, Singleton announced that the mistake had occurred in the dynamic Scheduler, in which some invoices have been promoted in recent years and the system caught in.

Singleton reminded the Commission that an increase in rainwater fees will come into force by 20%.

Ward said in the meeting that the billing problem was a serious problem and that the supply company made it more proactive in its communication.

On February 24, Gru published an explanation of the problem on February 24, on the same day when Ward sent the letter.

This article originally appeared on the Gainesville Sun: Gainesville Regional Utilities deals with the billing errors in January 2025