A Jacksonville Transportation Authority board member is accusing the organization of having a tuition reimbursement policy that favors executives over hourly staff and has requested a legal examination of the matter.
During the March 27 meeting of the board, Megan Hayward questioned a JTA policy providing up to $5,250 in tuition reimbursement annually.
“However, there is a critical sentence in the policy stating, ‘JTA subsidized scholarships for executive education do not qualify for reimbursement as they are paid in full by the Authority for qualified recipients,’” she said, reading from remarks she later shared with a reporter.
“So let me be clear, what this says is that the executive leadership has their tuition paid in full — with no dollar limit — directly to the school.”
Noting that the policy says payments will be made in accordance with an IRS regulation regarding tuition reimbursement, Hayward stated that the IRS code caps assistance at $5,250 and says plans “shall not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees.”
“So, I would like to know, and I know the JTA employees and public would like to know, under what IRS authority are these subsidized scholarships being granted?” she said.
“What legal basis permits a state-created, taxpayer-funded organization to provide an unspecified amount of money to executives for educational purposes with no guidelines on who is awarded the bonus funds? I know at least one executive team member received a Ph.D. through this program and the total cost was $80,000," she said.
“I would also like to know how is JTA legally able to discriminate in favor of highly paid executives at the expense of others.”
Hayward said that in conversations with JTA CEO Nat Ford, it was her understanding that there were no written requirements for the tuition reimbursement program. Rather, she said, the award “is subject to Mr. Ford’s ideas and expectations.”
Board Vice President Aundra Wallace, who chaired the meeting, directed Ford to prepare a report in response to Hayward’s remarks.
The JTA did not immediately respond to questions about Hayward’s statement.
Hayward’s remarks came in what could be her last meeting as a board member. At the request of Mayor Donna Deegan’s office, the Jacksonville City Council is considering legislation to replace Hayward midterm by former Council President and Neptune Beach Mayor Elaine Brown.
Hayward was appointed to a partial first term in 2023 that was scheduled to expire in May 2025, followed automatically by a full four-year term.
In a written statement, Deegan said her goal in nominating Brown was to “align board membership with background and experience to move city priorities forward.” She said the timing was related to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent appointments of Max Glober and Donald “Donnie” Horner III.
The legislation, Resolution 2025-0157, is on track for final Council approval in early April.
In the February JTA board meeting, Hayward questioned what she described as discrepancies in reports on JTA’s ridership statistics and whether a JTA contribution of $60,000 to JAXUSA Partnership, Wallace’s employer, was ethical.
JTA staff attributed differences in ridership statistics on reporting requirements for different entities.
As far as the contribution, Jason Gabriel from the Burr & Forman law firm presented a legal opinion during the March 27 board meeting saying the contribution did not constitute a conflict of interest for Wallace. Gabriel is a former lead general counsel for the city of Jacksonville.
The opinion, which JTA provided to a reporter, states that JTA has been making contributions to JAX Chamber and JAXUSA Partnership, the chamber’s economic development arm, for at least 18 years before Wallace joined the board.
The contributions go toward providing publicity promotions for JTA and marketing services and publicity promotions for companies and trades of interest to JTA, the opinion states, with none of the funding allocated for compensation to JAXUSA Partnership employees.
The opinion says Wallace “obtains no private gain or loss nor do any of his relative(s) or business associates” from the contribution.