Background
In 2023, the Florida Legislature enacted a special law amending Gainesville’s charter to create the Gainesville Regional Utility Authority (GRUA) to manage the city-owned utility system. Although GRUA operated as a unit of city government, the charter provision stated that it was free from City Commission direction and control except as Article VII provided.
In 2024, the City Commission placed a proposed charter amendment on the ballot to delete Article VII and eliminate GRUA. Voters approved it. GRUA sued, arguing both that the amendment conflicted with the Legislature’s special law and that the ballot summary was misleading. The circuit court ruled for the City on the conflict claim but for GRUA on the ballot-summary claim.
The Court’s Holding
The First District reversed the judgment for the City on Count I and directed entry of judgment for GRUA. A municipality’s authority to amend its charter does not permit an amendment that conflicts with a special law enacted by the Legislature. That limitation applies even when the Legislature created the authority through a special law amending the municipal charter, rather than through a standalone act.
The court dismissed the City’s cross-appeal from the ballot-summary ruling as moot. After the 2024 election, the City placed a corrected 2025 ordinance with the same purpose—eliminating Article VII—on the ballot, and voters again approved it. The court did not decide the effect or constitutionality of a 2026 state-law preemption provision because reversal on Count I and dismissal of the cross-appeal resolved the appeal.
Key Takeaways
- Municipal home-rule and charter-amendment powers remain subject to general and special laws.
- A city cannot use a charter amendment to undo a utility authority created by legislative special act.
- A challenge to a prior ballot summary may become moot when a later, approved measure accomplishes the same result.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that Florida municipalities cannot nullify legislative special acts through local charter amendments, even where the special act itself amended the city charter. The source of the authority’s power is the Legislature’s enactment, not merely its placement in the charter.
The ruling also leaves unresolved the effect of the 2026 preemption statute and the separate litigation over the 2025 ordinance.