JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — JTA’s outgoing CEO Nat Ford is still collecting a paycheck amid massive layoffs and service reductions as the agency attempts to stabilize its budget.
Ford announced his plans to leave JTA back in July and was selected to lead the Dallas Area Rapid Transit later that month.
Just two months later, JTA announced it would be laying off nearly 200 employees, reducing bus services and suspending the Skyway and Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation (NAVI) program in an effort to address a $40 million budget shortfall.
But Ford’s $400,000-a-year salary was apparently not on the chopping block, as the agency says he will continue to be paid in accordance with his contract through his final day on October 21.
That means Ford will likely have collected an additional $60,000 in base salary alone between the agency naming an interim CEO on August 27 and his final day on the job.
And in the meantime, JTA says Ford is only working on an on-call basis adding he is, “available if anyone on the Executive Leadership Team or other staff have questions or need any assistance.”
The agency also confirmed Ford has not been in the office since Monday.
“This sends a terrible message. Why would you take money from JTA when you’re like directly responsible for driving it into a ditch? People were getting fired yesterday. I mean, come on. Just send the money back and move on to Dallas,” said Councilmember Rory Diamond (R-District 13).
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Diamond, who serves as council liaison to JTA, suggested the agency arguably has enough to fire Ford for cause, given the current state of the agency, but doing so could be more trouble than it’s worth.
“You’d only get a month out of it, so the attorney’s fees would eat it all up, but yeah, this is ridiculous,” said Diamond.
Action News Jax also got a list of 33 administrative employees being laid off at JTA and their annual salaries, which totaled nearly $3.5 million.
Twelve of those employees made over six figures, and three had salaries exceeding $200,000 a year.
Diamond argues with salaries like that, it’s no surprise the agency ended up in dire financial straits.
“They’ve been spending money like it’s just water. It’s insane. For years now,” said Diamond.
Starting next month, City Council will begin examining how it might be able to restructure JTA’s share of the local option gas tax to help stabilize the agency’s budget.
The initial proposal calls for a one-time loan that the agency would have to pay back, but Diamond said he wants to see a more permanent rework of how those dollars are collected and what they can be spent on.
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