JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The JEA board voted at its meeting Tuesday to increase the salary of CEO Vickie Cavey.
Action News Jax told you Wednesday that the JEA Compensation Committee approved a recommendation of a 3-year contract with two mutually agreed upon 1-year terms for CEO Cavey.
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Her salary will increase from $560,000 to $700,000 with 3% annual increases.
In addition, Cavey will receive a $2,000 monthly business allowance and $850 a month vehicle allowance.
“Over the last 10 months, Vickie has led JEA with a dedication to fiscal stewardship, reestablishing trust with the board and a commitment to the community we serve,” JEA board chair Joe DiSalvo said last week. “CEO compensation is governed by board policy. It should be ‘similar to other public utilities comparable to JEA when taking into account the size of JEA’s territory area, employee workforce, and utility systems.’ In key operational metrics, JEA is in the 80th percentile of large public power utilities nationally; yet the current JEA CEO compensation is in the 40th percentile.”
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Cavey replaced former CEO Jay Stowe who resigned under pressure in April 2024, partly due to accusations of rising costs including pay raises for executives who lived out of the area. Stowe was making approximately $670,000 plus similar perks as Cavey.
Cavey’s hiring led to a City of Jacksonville Office of Inspector General investigation to determine if board members violated sunshine laws after there was no public discussion of Cavey ascending to the interim CEO role at the time.
The State Attorney’s office determined there were no laws broken, but the whistleblower told Action News Jax Ben Becker at the time it was a “B.S. cover-up job.”
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Since Cavey took over, the utility has agreed to increase its contribution to the city by more than $120 million over the next five years.
It has also committed to sharing the multi-million cost of raising power lines over the St. Johns River with JAXPORT.
Both scenarios were not fully supported by Stowe.
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