{"id":404222,"date":"2026-09-19T02:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T02:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/404222\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T02:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T02:52:11","slug":"former-jta-board-member-says-she-warned-officials-about-agencys-financial-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/404222\/","title":{"rendered":"Former JTA board member says she warned officials about agency\u2019s financial situation"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Reactions continued to pour in after the Jacksonville Transportation Authority announced plans to cut roughly 150 positions and reduce services as it works to trim $39 million from its budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A former JTA board member and some city leaders say the agency\u2019s financial struggles did not happen overnight and that warning signs were ignored.<\/p>\n

Megan Hayward, who served on the JTA board for about a year and a half before she was removed, said she repeatedly questioned spending on projects including NAVI, the agency\u2019s autonomous vehicle program.<\/p>\n

The project is scheduled to be temporarily halted Jan. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at Donna before I left, and I said, if you guys do not take this seriously, this is going to be your JEA scandal. And here we are,\u201d Hayward said, referring to Mayor Donna Deegan.<\/p>\n

Hayward said the cost of the NAVI project grew by more than $20 million beyond its original projection of about $250 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had ballooned already, like over $20 million from the original cost that had been projected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In her opinion, Hayward said, the spending reflected \u201ccomplete ego and hubris\u201d by Deegan and JTA\u2019s executive team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could have been avoided if the NAVI project had been shut down sooner,\u201d Hayward said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for Deegan said JTA\u2019s board \u201cwas not previously aware of the dire nature of the agency\u2019s financial situation. We became aware as they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Deegan is disappointed that Jacksonville residents will be facing new inconveniences and disruptions in public transit. JTA must focus on improving its financial situation and the services that customers rely on every day.<\/p>\n

JTA\u2019s board was not previously aware of the dire nature of the agency\u2019s financial situation. We became aware as they did. JTA officially notified the Mayor\u2019s Office of the new budget cuts and layoffs on Thursday morning before their announcement. As we all move forward, there must be a collective effort to learn from the past with an eye toward ensuring world class public transit in the future.<\/p>\n

The City\u2019s Employee Services Division is working to reach out to the JTA employees impacted to provide resources and information on job openings at the City of Jacksonville, other independent agencies, and partners.<\/p>\n

Mayor Deegan is focused on working with the current JTA leadership on solutions that solve their financial situation. Hyperpartisan finger pointing about decisions made by an independent agency won\u2019t move us forward.<\/p>\n

Long term, the community deserves full transparency and a complete understanding of how this happened.<\/p>\n

Office of Mayor Donna Deegan<\/p>\n

City Council member Rory Diamond also criticized the mayor on social media, writing: \u201cNever forget, @MayorDeegan cheered as @JTAFLA was driven into a ditch.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Diamond said he and others had warned for years about problems at JTA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been screaming from the mountaintops for the last two years that there\u2019s huge problems over there, and the mayor removed a board member who\u2019s asking those very questions,\u201d Diamond said. \u201cSo, you can\u2019t pretend not to know what\u2019s going on and have done all that. It makes no sense. It\u2019s dishonest.\u201d<\/p>\n

JTA riders are now questioning how the cuts could affect their commutes and access to transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I heard about it, I was like, on social media scrolling through, I just couldn\u2019t believe it because I have to catch the bus every single day,\u201d rider Shacara Miller said. \u201cAnd because of how late I get back and forth to the terminal, it\u2019s going to be kind of hard with all the budget cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayward said the agency\u2019s financial crisis and the use of federal money warrant a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be. When you\u2019re talking about federal money, it\u2019s a big deal what happens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also criticized the impact of the cuts on mechanics, bus drivers and other lower-paid employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people that cause these problems to happen aren\u2019t getting hit as hard,\u201d Hayward said. \u201cIt\u2019s really affecting the mechanics, the bus drivers, the lower-tiered employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayward said JTA\u2019s executive team prioritized its own salaries over the people who depend on the system.<\/p>\n

Deegan said the city needs to learn from the past while working to ensure world-class public transportation in the future.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Reactions continued to pour in after the Jacksonville Transportation Authority announced plans to cut roughly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5957,56464,5890,116,118,117,799],"class_list":["post-404222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-city-hall","tag-deegan","tag-donna-deegan","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}