City Council members call for investigation into JEA for millions of dollars in uncollected fees

The Jacksonville utility has been accused of not collecting capacity fees from some companies, including Mayo Clinic.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There are growing calls for an investigation into JEA as the Jacksonville City Council prepares to appoint a new member to the public utility’s board. City Council members discussed a resolution to appoint Randy Wyse to the JEA board during Tuesday’s meeting. This comes nearly a month after text messages from Council President Kevin Carrico to a current member of the board sparked controversy.

Carrico sent text messages to current JEA Board member Arthur Adams, which said he ‘owed a big favor to a friend’ and would be appointing that friend to Adams’ seat. Responding to the controversy from the messages, Carrico made allegations against JEA CEO Vickie Cavey, accusing her of racism and creating a toxic work culture.

The State Attorney’s Office has since launched an investigation into Carrico and the JEA nomination, subpoenaing all communications from Carrico regarding JEA. Cavey has also denied Carrico’s accusations, with a majority of the JEA board giving her a vote of confidence.

JEA is not out of the woods yet, though.

Council Member Rory Diamond said the public utility has not been collecting millions of dollars in capacity fees from some companies and developers, including Mayo Clinic.

“The allegation is that for at least 10 years that JEA has not been charging big developments increased capacity fees. Now, if you want to go get something new at your house, you’re going to have to pay that, but these big companies haven’t been,” Diamond explained.

Diamond said he spoke with JEA’s attorneys about the matter.

According to JEA’s website, capacity fees are one-time fees assessed when connecting to JEA’s water, wastewater, and reclaim system. 

“If you rent a new apartment or build a new house, you’re going to pay a connection fee. A new apartment’s gonna be like $300. New house, like $18,000 to connect to JEA, but big developers, they were getting it for free, and that’s just not right,” Diamond said.

In a statement from JEA, a spokesperson said the utility is working on a program on how to “properly track, identify and bill JEA customers for “additional” capacity fees due to customer growth and expansion.”

JEA said the issue with Mayo Clinic is not related to uncharged fees, but “rather to determining what capacity and associated fees were previously paid for.” Mayo Clinic has been in Jacksonville since the 1980s and JEA did not take over the city’s utilities until the 1990s. JEA said “identifying the terms and payments that were originally established has proven challenging.”

The Office of Inspector General is now looking into whether an investigation into the public utility is warranted. Former Council President Ron Salem also wants to see City Council do its own financial review.

“I think we might need some type of outside audit to make sure we understand how big the problem is and I hope City Council President Carrico will look at some process to examine that,” Salem said.

A spokesperson for JEA said in a statement that the utility is aware of the audit and welcomes it. JEA is also working with Mayo Clinic to review its records and find a reasonable resolution.

First Coast News reached out to Mayo Clinic for a comment, but did not immediately hear back.