The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is under scrutiny for its spending habits and other questionable dealings.
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Multiple sources have told Action News Jax that the Office of the Inspector General is investigating the JTA.
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They tell me that much of the investigation revolves around how the top executives spent taxpayer money on meals, luxury hotels and massages. Action News Jax has reviewed those credit card statements and the city’s policies on some of those expenses and found that they don’t seem to add up.
Action News Jax went line by line through JTA’s credit card statements, which were kept for 18 months. The charges paint a picture of luxury travel and lavish spending. There are only about three dozen cards in total, but they have accumulated nearly $2 million in total charges during that time.
Some of those charges involved things like lightbulbs and office supplies, but sources told me the inspector general is taking a closer look at some of the other charges.
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Action News Jax found that massages cost $600, photo booths cost thousands, groceries cost tens of thousands, and one executive’s tuition cost more than $17,000.
The real shock, however, comes with the travel costs.
JTA is a local transit authority. Their projects, routes and programs are all in Northeast Florida, but in the first six months of 2024, nearly $150,000 in public money was spent sending their people out of town to work.
Action News Jax has pulled the city’s policy on travel expenses. It clearly states that it includes independent agencies like the JTA, but the way the agency has spent money doesn’t appear to be consistent with those guidelines.
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The city ordinance states: “A traveler shall select the least expensive accommodation available consistent with the duties to be performed.”
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Yet in just one month, one person spent nearly seven thousand dollars on travel, including stays at luxury hotels such as the Costa D’Este Resort and Spa in Vero Beach, the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, the Boca Raton Resort and Spa and the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress.
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Records show that JTA’s spending remained unchecked until Action News Jax published its first article about the agency in November 2023. After that, records show, total amounts on company credit cards rose from tens of thousands to as much as two thousand dollars a month.
That kind of top-level spending is exactly why state Rep. Shane Abbott passed a bill limiting administrative costs for transportation agencies. “If we’re going to allocate money to public transit,” Abbott told Action News Jax during the legislative session, “that’s where it should go. We’re trying to transport the public.”
The JTA sent this statement about its trips, but did not directly answer a list of specific questions. Instead, it said, “All travel is business travel. For conferences/meetings, the JTA uses the group discount negotiated by the host organization or a government discount.”
The JTA will likely have to address its spending, its plans to comply with the new state law and the inspector general’s investigation on Wednesday when it goes before the city’s finance committee to review its budget.
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