JEA chief executive officer Aaron Zahn plans to cut the utility’s $4 billion debt by about $1 billion over the next five years, one of the first major initiatives Zahn will lead after his recent appointment as the agency’s permanent leader in November.
The underlying philosophy behind Zahn’s approach is not new. His predecessor, Paul McElroy, also made debt reduction a major priority after the utility spent years racking up expenses earlier in the 2000s by expanding its water and electric infrastructure. Under McElroy, JEA’s debt shrank from about $6 billion to around $4 billion, where it sits today.
One difference in Zahn’s approach, however, would have been hard to imagine under McElroy’s leadership.
Zahn wants to accelerate paying off the debt even faster by using reserve money the utility hoarded in hopes of getting the highest possible credit rating from Wall Street analysts.
Zahn wants to pay off $1 billion by 2023, while also continuing an already existing practice of using the money on hand to pay for capital construction projects instead of borrowing.