Jacksonville City Council members spent Tuesday pressing former Jacksonville Transportation Authority Chief Financial Officer Raj Srinath on exactly how the agency sank into a $40 million deficit — and at least one council member left the hearing saying Srinath wasn’t giving them straight answers. Srinath pointed to JTA’s NAVI shuttle program as a major driver of the financial strain, but council member Chris Miller pushed back hard on how much of the blame belonged to Srinath’s own tenure at the agency.
Committee Presses Former CFO on Timeline
The city council’s financial audit and oversight committee met Tuesday to question Srinath about how JTA accumulated the $40 million shortfall, according to News4JAX. Srinath told the committee he was not at JTA at all during fiscal year 2026, drawing a line between a $19 million deficit he said was recorded during his tenure and an additional $31 million deficit he said piled up after he left. “I was not there for fiscal year 26 at all,” Srinath said. “So the $31 million of whatever deficit they’re facing — that’s one.”
Miller wasn’t satisfied with that framing. He noted that Srinath was present for all but $3 million of the year in which JTA recorded that $19 million deficit, according to the same report, suggesting Srinath’s fingerprints were on far more of the shortfall than his answer implied. Committee members said at points during the hearing that Srinath was not directly answering their questions, the station reported.
NAVI Blamed, but Paper Trail Disputed
Srinath identified NAVI as a major source of financial strain on JTA, and separate reporting shows the shuttle program’s costs piling up fast — former CFO Heather Obora told the council JTA spent $10.76 million operating NAVI during the fiscal year that ran from October 2025 to September 2026, per Jacksonville.com. Srinath also said board packets he reviewed for the full year before he joined JTA did not include financial projections, and that he had not provided projections to the board himself. Auditors disputed that account, saying board packets predating Srinath’s tenure actually did include a page showing year-to-date projections, the station’s report notes.
Srinath said he first grew concerned about JTA’s finances in fall 2024 because of issues with unbilled receivables. He also acknowledged speaking with JTA’s CEO about the agency’s finances, though Miller’s question about whether Srinath had an exit interview with the CEO when he left the agency went unanswered in the hearing record.
Connexion Plus Costs Draw Scrutiny
Miller zeroed in on Connexion Plus, JTA’s paratransit service, as a specific area of concern. He said pay and benefits tied to the program increased by roughly 40 percent, and that overall Connexion Plus costs rose by more than 40 percent. Miller said he supports JTA pursuing new technology but questioned whether the agency’s leadership made financially sound decisions along the way, framing his concern bluntly: “You can’t spend more than you’re taking in. If you keep doing that, it’s not going to end well.”
The deficit numbers themselves have shifted repeatedly over the past year. JTA spent $181 million and collected $141 million in revenue during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, resulting in the $40 million deficit, per the same Jacksonville.com account. That same reporting notes Obora’s January analysis had already projected the agency would be $45 million upside down by year’s end without a mid-course correction, and that a May 15 report had instead shown JTA on track for a far smaller $2.25 million deficit before the CFO’s nine-month report showed the gap ballooning to nearly $32 million.
A Pattern Auditors Say Stretches Back Years
Jacksonville City Council auditors previously reported that JTA’s projected deficit jumped to $31.8 million from $2.25 million between March 31 and June 30, attributing the swing to $17.4 million in revenue shortfalls and $14.4 million in expenses above budget, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. Auditors traced part of that gap to $8.4 million in Connexion paratransit costs that went unbudgeted because the service-provider contract wasn’t budgeted for the full year, along with a $7.4 million rise in budgeted employee fringe benefits tied to inaccurate benefit projections.
JTA’s board responded in June by voting unanimously to trim services and raise fares, the Daily Record reported. That came after the agency finished fiscal year 2025 with a deficit of roughly $18.9 million, following a pattern auditors say stretches back further still — in 2022, JTA reported no significant budgetary stress despite spending about $4.8 million over budget, News4JAX previously reported. Auditors have said their quarterly reviews flagged budget gaps and late reports for years, according to Action News Jax, which also reported that auditors are now calling for monthly forecasts to be presented publicly in front of the board rather than surfacing only in periodic reports.
Cuts Already Underway
JTA executives have already outlined roughly $42 million in planned cost reductions for the coming budget year, including about $24 million from layoffs, about $16 million from route and service reductions, and another $2 million in cuts whose details weren’t available at the meeting where they were disclosed. The plan includes laying off about 200 employees and cutting services such as NAVI and the Skyway, the station reported last month. The cuts follow an earlier round in February, when JTA’s board approved $14.2 million in budget reductions that Obora said still left another $11 million in cuts needed.
Miller said the committee didn’t get to ask all the questions it wanted to ask Tuesday, and that he plans to seek answers to the remaining Connexion Plus cost questions at a later date. The committee is scheduled to meet again Nov. 17 at 11 a.m. at City Hall, with Jacksonville’s Financial Audit and Oversight Select Committee required under its charter to deliver its findings and recommendations by Dec. 4, though that deadline can be extended upon request.
