The Jacksonville Transportation Authority has been hit with yet another subpoena, this time from the Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office, which is demanding a sweeping set of records on the agency's finances, vendor contracts, executive spending and ridership numbers. The subpoena, dated Nov. 5, gives JTA until Nov. 20 to turn over the documents, and it marks the third government entity now digging into the transit authority's finances.
According to Yahoo News, the subpoena covers nine broad areas and seeks a trove of documents tied to JTA's finances, contracts, audits and executive compensation. The State Attorney's Office told Yahoo it has an obligation to investigate whether any laws were broken in the Fourth Judicial Circuit, though the subpoena itself does not accuse JTA, Corner Lot or anyone named in the document of committing a crime, according to WOKV.
What Investigators Are Asking For
The subpoena requests financial documents including annual and amended budgets, cash-flow forecasts and accounts-payable reports. It also seeks communications about actual or projected budget shortfalls, liquidity concerns, financial disclosures, vendor payments and the accuracy of JTA's financial reporting.
On the vendor side, investigators want contracts, invoices, payment approvals, procurement justifications, evaluations and communications tied to a list of named companies: Mason Nye Murals, Dream Builders Communications, Team Pegine, the GEMS Initiative, Gannett Fleming, TranSystems, Jacobs Project Management Company, KL2 Connects and WSP USA, per Yahoo's reporting. The subpoena also targets records tied to several of JTA's signature projects — the Neighborhood Autonomous Vehicle Innovation program known as NAVI, the Ultimate Urban Circulator or U2C, the Skyway, and the Bay Street Innovation Corridor.
Ridership Numbers and Executive Pay Under Scrutiny
Investigators are also asking pointed questions about how JTA counts its riders. The subpoena seeks ridership records and tracking methodologies, Yahoo reported.
On the executive side, the subpoena seeks employment agreements, compensation records, corporate credit-card transactions, and records of travel, lodging and justifications for travel, training and events — including for former CEO Nat Ford and interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson, according to News4JAX. The subpoena was served on Ferguson, and the station reports JTA must produce the records by Nov. 20.
A Budget Crisis Years in the Making
The new subpoena lands on top of a financial crisis that has already forced layoffs and service cuts at JTA. News4JAX reported the agency faces a roughly $39 million budget shortfall, while Action News Jax has described the gap as closer to $40 million alongside nearly 200 layoffs, a discrepancy that remains unresolved in public reporting.
The roots of the shortfall go back further. JTA had a $158.1 million budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year but spent $177 million, finishing the year almost $19 million in the hole, according to the Florida Times-Union. The outlet reported the agency is now projected to finish the 2025-26 fiscal year with a deficit pegged at about $37 million. City auditors, as detailed by Jaxtoday, found a pattern of operating expenses exceeding budgeted amounts even as reports suggested little or no financial stress at the agency.
In response to the shortfall, JTA announced in September that it would end professional-services and other contracts to save about $25 million, while eliminating 44 administrative positions and up to 150 operations positions, according to a JTA press release. The agency also announced plans to pause Skyway operations on Nov. 2 and NAVI operations on Dec. 31, though News4JAX later reported the NAVI pause would instead take effect Jan. 1, 2027 — a discrepancy that has not been resolved between the agency's own announcement and subsequent coverage. Skyway service was suspended as scheduled, per that report.
Third Investigation, Different Scope
The State Attorney's Office subpoena is separate from three previous subpoenas JTA has already received from the Florida Attorney General's Office, according to Action News Jax. That office issued a subpoena to Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan's office in October as part of its own probe, the station reported. Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution was separately seeking a third criminal subpoena concerning U2C, a Corner Lot ground lease, ridership reports and sponsorships, News4JAX reported in a separate story.
Jacksonville City Council President Nick Howland had also announced in September that a select committee would investigate JTA separately from the state's inquiry, according to Jaxtoday's earlier reporting. As First Coast News first reported, the Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office is now the third entity scrutinizing JTA's books, with Yahoo noting the subpoena's requested records generally span from October 2023 through early November 2026, and ridership-specific records dating back to January 2023.
