JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JEA executives received substantial pay raises late last year including the public utility’s CEO Jay Stowe whose salary jumped over $75,000 (12.7%) to $669,510.
News4JAX obtained a breakdown of all the salary increases that showed executives got raises between 6% and 23%. JEA’s Chief External Affairs Officer, for example, saw their pay increase by more than $73,000, an increase of over 23%.
JEA customer Hazel Washington said Monday she understands pay raises for employees but had some ideas after she heard about how much JEA’s top officials are now taking home.
“Come down on my bill,” Washington said.
This year, most of the 2,000 employees at JEA received a 2% increase in pay, which followed a more than 6% raise last year. But for the 22 people in upper management, those raises were substantially more.
These salaries were not decided in an open meeting or by the JEA board, but by Stowe.
“The transparency of this is that whenever we look at the market, the scope of the roles, and the performance and inside of the roles, I need to be sure that we are paying people what they’re worth and what the right amount. And some of these are large numbers, but the expectations of what we’re asking this team to do, are very important for the future of Jacksonville and Northeast Florida,” Stowe said.
One top-level employee’s raise is also raising some eyebrows. The Chief Strategy Officer Laura Dutton got a 23% raise ($73,000 a year more) but Dutton does not even live in Jacksonville or Florida. Her home is in Tennessee.
News4JAX asked Stowe about why someone who does not live here would be planning JEA’s future and get such a substantial raise.
“Whenever we got here and realized that we could make decisions regardless of where someone happens to sit, I look to try to be sure that we could get the best people that we could that could help us and help me make the best decisions that I can make going forward,” he said.
Some JEA union leaders were not aware of the executive salary increases until they heard about them from News4JAX and some were surprised so they’re now taking a closer look.
JEA’s management also underwent some changes on Monday as some positions had been eliminated and combined with others as part of a streamlining of operations.
Some people who spoke to News4JAX questioned the timing of the raises given the fact that a small rate increase is expected to take place soon, about $1 a month for most customers.
JEA said costs have gone up for running the utility, but one primary reason for the increase is that JEA has to start paying the costs for Plant Vogtle, the nuclear power plant in Georgia that is now supplying some energy to JEA.
Meanwhile, many Americans haven’t seen significant pay increases in recent years even as the cost of living has gone up significantly.
So we want to know, how much has your pay increased in the last year? Vote in our poll below.