Apparently, the fine folks at the JEA failed to learn an important lesson from the Aaron Zahn debacle, having to do with “optics.”
They are on the verge of increasing the salary of the person having Zahn’s former job – at the same time they raise rates 10 percent.
Maybe they should hire a new public relations chief instead.
Zahn went to prison for feathering his nest.
Current CEO Vickie Cavey would get a pay increase from $560,000 to $700,000 over a three-year period if the JEA board accepts the recommendation of its Compensation Committee.
Cavey also would receive a $2,000 monthly business allowance and $850 a month vehicle allowance.
Her predecessor, Jay Stowe, was paid $690,000 a year.
With this brilliant ploy, the JEA managed to light up the internet.
“I’m going to have to assume by the last scandalous CEO they hired that they will look for any reason to raise the rates. The millage goes up just about every year, but yeah she totally deserves a raise,” one Facebook post said.
“We struggle to pay our utility bills and they gave her a raise, how about lowering our electric bill and forgot the raise and use it for the people,” another fumed.
Another noted that the president of the United States is paid only $400,000 a year.
One suggested that in lieu of a raise Cavey should get a percentage of the money she saves by cutting costs.
JEA’s rates are among the lowest in Florida. The combined utility bill for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kWh will be $205.66 after April 1 and will jump another $11.42 in 2026.
JEA will give the city government $137 million this year and has promised to increase that amount by $125 million over the next five years. Although that offsets property taxes, property owners and JEA customers are the same people for the most part.
Makes you wonder if someone in JEA dropped a note in the suggestion box that said, “Hey, the furor over the Zahn scandal is dying down so let’s stir things up by giving the boss a huge pay raise AND jack up the rates at the same time!”
