As part of an ongoing effort to inform readers about the upcoming election, The Gainesville Sun fact-checked several claims made by State Sen. Keith Perry.

Some of the recent advertisements tied to State Sen. Keith Perry’s re-election campaign have forced people to do their own homework to separate fact from fiction.

Perry, a Republican, is running against Democrat and first-time candidate Kayser Enneking for State Senate District 8. Former City Commissioner Charles Goston is also on the ballot, but has not been campaigning. The district covers Alachua, Putnam and north Marion counties.

Perry’s advertisements are paid for by the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and he has approved them. The political action committee has spent more than $334,000 on Perry’s campaign since May.

As part of an ongoing effort to inform readers about the upcoming election, The Gainesville Sun fact-checked several claims made in these ads. Here are some of Perry’s claims:

Ice rink

On Thursday, Perry released a 30-second advertisement on his YouTube page that states the city of Gainesville raised its utility rates so it could spend millions of dollars on a new ice rink.

But there’s one problem: the city doesn’t have an ice rink.

In 2001, the city had a seasonal ice rink, but found it too costly and shut it down in 2006. The idea to bring it back was recently pushed by City Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos, who said it would cost an estimated $120,000 to $150,000. This idea was floated months before the city voted to raise electric rates.

Hayes-Santos’ pitch was quickly shot down by fellow commissioners who didn’t think the proposal was feasible for the upcoming budget cycle.

Currently, the city has no plans to bring back the ice rink.

Fighting GRU

Earlier this month, Perry shared several Facebook posts tied to another campaign commercial that was aimed at Gainesville Regional Utilities.

Perry for years has advocated of creating an independent utility board to make GRU-related decisions, due to some of the city’s past blunders and increased rates. This November, voters have a chance to pass the referendum that would strip the commission’s control of the utility.

On Facebook, Perry shared an ad and wrote that he, along with City Commissioners Hayes-Santos, Harvey Ward and Gigi Simmons, was "fighting back" against the utility. The claim led commissioners to believe that Perry was implying they, too, supported the GRU referendum, which the entire commission has denounced.

Perry’s statements, however, appeared to be tied to the fact that each of the three commissioners, at one point, attempted to keep GRU rates from going up in October. The commission ultimately approved the rate increase.

Still, Hayes-Santos and Ward made clear through their own Facebook posts that they did not stand with Perry. Perry ultimately took down the Facebook posts.

GRU mailer

The PAC pushing Perry’s ads in August released a mailer attacking GRU, stating that 94,000 of the utility’s customers couldn’t afford their electric bills.

The mailer attributed the information to a column by GRU General Manager Ed Bielarski that discussed the utility’s ongoing efforts to work with customers who have trouble paying bills.

GRU has about 94,000 customers in all. Last year, the utility made 94,000 payment arrangements for 18,426 customers. About half of those customers had multiple extension requests.

Since the August mailer, Perry’s advertisements have correctly reflected those figures.

Slush fund

Many of Perry's advertisements are aimed at the Gainesville City Commission’s utility-related decisions over the years.

In his ice rink commercial, Perry leans on a Gainesville Sun column that states that the city uses GRU funds for its general fund transfer, calling it a “slush fund.” The phrase is the title of his commercial and linked to a GRU petition website that advocates for Perry and the GRU referendum.

The city receives about $38 million from the transfer, which then goes toward other city services. Some of those services include the police department, fire rescue, new employees and new initiatives.

On Thursday, leaders from the local firefighters union, which is part of the International Association of Fire Fighters, announced they had voted to ban Perry from the union's property due to his repeated references to the fund transfer as a "slush fund."