Jackson Jambalaya

 The Clarion – Ledger reported on the lead problems in Jackson's water system. The article started on a decent enough track but then the newspaper help itself as it picked up the social justice spear and tramped through a jungle of ignorance. The newspaper reported last week: 

For years, Jackson residents have questioned whether their water was safe to drink. In 2015, high levels of lead were found in the city’s drinking water. 

Since that year, two-thirds of all water samples taken in Jackson have contained at least a trace amount of lead, according to records reviewed by the Clarion Ledger.

 Two-thirds sounds horrible but a qualifying sentence appears later:

Since 2015, 90 of the 1,352 water samples collected have exceeded the lead limit, according to a Clarion Ledger review of Jackson water testing records.

 90 violations are 90 violations but they are not two-thirds either. The article continued:

While the amount of lead in the water is decreasing, it remains present. Through the first half of 2021, about two-thirds of the 160 samples tested contained at least a trace amount of lead, though only three exceeded the EPA limit.

When water is improperly treated, or corrosive, it can cause lead from old pipes or plumbing fixtures to leach into what comes out of the tap.

The presence of lead, even in trace amounts, in Jackson's water system should come as no surprise. The Lumumba and Yarber administrations did not implement a required lead line replacement program nor even create a plan even after  the EPA cracked down on Jackson last year. Given the negligence and incompetence in the Jackson water treatment plants, it is indeed a wonder Jackson is not suffering more serious lead problems.

Once the story completed the lead angle, Executive Editor Marlon Walker and crew just couldn't help themselves and went down the social justice path all the while while showing their ignorance:

Legacy cities with aging infrastructure are a product of decades of white flight and disinvestment rooted in racism, said Manuel Teodoro, professor of public affairs at the La Follette School at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The effect is amplified when city leaders opt to defer maintenance or a public utility is poorly managed, he said.

In some ways, Jackson is the poster child for all of the above. Property values are abysmal, the population is shrinking and Jackson’s water and sewer utility is under financial duress.

Is there a particular reason why the newspaper went to Wisconsin to get an opinion while Jackson is stuffed with PhD's who just love to bloviate?  Someone must have been looking for an opinion opinion to support a narrative. The so-called reporters claim Jackson's property values are "abysmal" by citing the average home price on Zillow ($149K).  Hmmmm, such as say, property tax revenue? 

Jackson received an unprecedented $78 million in property tax revenue in 2019.  The newspaper can see what it wants about "abysmal" property values, but Jackson gets more property tax revenue than ever.  Earlier post on Jackson finances.  But wait, there is more:

 Decades of population loss — Jackson has lost a fifth of its residents in the last 40 years — means the city collects less water revenue than the system was built for.

 Oh yes, the potential revenue argument. It's a great argument because it never requires any facts because frankly, the facts do not exist and are thus impossible to determine.  The newspaper finally gets around to barely mentioning the Siemens contract:

The shrunken customer base, coupled with 2013’s ill-advised water billing contract and years of not collecting water fees from residents, has left Jackson unable to afford the needed fixes.

Although ignored by the newspaper, this problem is the main culprit of Jackson's water woes. Unfortunately, it only received two sentences in the lengthy story.  Such an omission should not come as a surprise when Marlon & crew are more interested in writing a particular narrative then reporting the facts.

The real truth is the so-called newspaper of record avoided reporting Jackson's water system crashed because it told customers they didn't have to pay their bills. When people are told they don't have to pay their bills don't be surprised when they don't pay their bills. Thus the city tens of millions of dollars on a water/sewer system that should have made tens of millions of dollars. JJ covered all this back in May but for once the Clarion – Ledger saw fit not to plagiarize this website. In case the glorified crew from Gannett missed it, here is what JJ reported:

 Jackson's coffers are almost empty thanks to white flight taking its money to the suburbs.  Such is the excuse national and local media make in explaining way Jackson's water problems.  However, such a blame game ignores reality.  Jackson gets more money than ever but managed to mismanage its water/sewer department into virtual bankruptcy.  

If Jackson would just collect the money owed for water/sewer services, it would have enough money to maintain the water system.   The accounts receivables lines on the city's annual audits spell out the problem in black and white. 

 Accounts receivables are money owed but not collected.  Jackson's receivables stayed below $10 million for several years then crept up to the $20 million range where it stayed until 2013.  Unfortunately, all hell broke loose on the balance sheet in 2014 as accounts receivables doubled in only five years.  Cutting off water cut-offs might have been great politics but it was a disaster on the books as the water system went broke. The cash on hand account shows the carnage.  

Water/sewer rate increases usually generated large hikes in cash as shown on the chart.  However, as accounts receivables skyrocketed, the water/sewer system's cash on hand plummeted to zero.  Jackson literally spent every dime it had to prop up the water sewer system because it didn't collect payments.  

Jackson can't even claim declining water sewer revenues are at fault because although the number of connections have decreased, water sales increased from $42 million in 2003 to  $50 million in 2019.   

The city should be getting more money than ever from its water/sewer services as shown by this chart.  However, the failure to collect payments while spending every dime available presents a picture that is quite ugly.  

The 2019 item is correct.  The Jackson water/sewer system generated an operating loss of $17 million in 2019.  The system was a money-maker for the city of Jackson right up until 2014 when the wheels fell off the system.  

The depreciation expense was equivalent to the operating loss.  The cash flow presented a somewhat better picture. 

Jackson's overall budget does not show a city hemorrhaging cash.   Jackson gets more revenue than ever before.

 Mayor Lumumba said at a press conference this year Jackson is losing $20 million per year on its water/sewer system.  

Hizzoner  said it will cost $2 billion to fix Jackson's water problems. Unfortunately, no serious person in Jackson believes the Mayor. The pockets be lined while the estimates are inflated.  There is no independent analysis showing what it would cost to fix Jackson's water problems and what repairs are required.  The reporter simply took the Mayor at his word and began writing a plea for the state to shovel money into Jackson:

The city collects about $60 million a year in water and sewer billing, about 3% of what it would take to fix the problems. Even if the city fixes its beleaguered billing system — the city has missed out on $83 million in water revenue since 2014 — the money won’t be enough.

$83 million would have gone a long way in fixing the water treatment plants and hiring the people needed to run them. In other words, the ice storm disaster probably would not have happened.

But, never fear the state is sitting on a big pot of federal money and only needs to send it to Jackson.

Mississippi is sitting on billions of dollars of federal aid. 

The recently passed $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package is sending $459 million to the Magnolia State for water and sewer upgrades specifically. The state received $1.8 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds, which are largely intended to be spent on infrastructure improvements.

Make no mistake,  state should send some of that "free" money to Jackson to fix its water and sewer systems. However, what the Mayor wants is a blank check to spend as he sees fit. Given the city's Siemens disaster and the Mayor's coverup of the EPA emergency order, the state would be crazy to give Jackson that big check with no controls put in place. The no-bid contracts and crony – designed RFPs would proliferate like mushrooms under the Mayor's watch if such were to happen.

The state should send the money Jackson under the purview of a water/sewer board of directors. Jackson mismanaged its water system into bankruptcy and cannot be trusted to operate it. Before the state gives Jackson any money, it should hire an independent expert to audit the system. The expert should determine what repairs should be made and how much they will cost. However, such an audit involves the concept called financial responsibility and such concepts are rarely mentioned when the media discusses Jackson's water problems.

However, never fear, because the Clarion-Ledger did not disappoint as it just could not, would not resist leaving the race card:

State officials, however, haven’t gone out of their way to help Jackson. In March, as city residents had gone weeks without water, Reeves balked at the idea of issuing emergency funding to the city, instead chastising city officials.

“I do think it’s really important that the city of Jackson start collecting their water bill payments before they start going and asking everyone else to pony up more money,” he said at the time.

Jackson has the second largest percentage of Black residents of any city in the nation. Jackson’s Black state legislators say their white Republican counterparts’ failure to aid the capital city is racist.

“The reason they don’t want to do it is because the city is predominantly Black,” State Rep. Alyce Clarke said. “We don’t want to talk about race issues. I don’t like to talk about race issues. But it is a problem.”

 Ah yes, Alyce Clarke.  She was dumb 20 years ago, she was dumb 10 years ago, she is dumb now, and will still be dumb in 10 years. All she knows how to do is demand more money and scream racism without taking responsibility for anything. 

The real question the newspaper should be asking is how did Jackson mismanage its way into this disaster. Why does Jackson need such help when no other city Mississippi does? JJ warned 10 years ago crooked bond deals were going to sink Jackson's finances but the media could not be bothered. It is much easier to scream racism than try to understand numbers. One requires thought while the other requires... well, you get the idea. The bond pimp who caused much of this disaster pleaded guilty to fraud last week in federal court but none of the media covered the story. Such negligence happens when the media fits facts into a pre-determined narrative.

Make no mistake, this screed was a team effort:

This report was produced in partnership with the Community Foundation for Mississippi’s local news collaborative, which is independently funded in part by Microsoft Corp. The collaborative includes the Clarion Ledger, the Jackson Advocate, Jackson State University, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Mississippi Today.

Well, here is the real truth this team of "investigative reporters" tried to avoid.

Harvey's cronies crippled the Jackson water/sewer system with crooked bond deals in 2010 through 2013. The sweetheart deals funded projects that wrecked the billing system . Every financial chart shows Jackson's water/sewer finances took a nosedive in 2014 when the Siemens contract took effect. The contracts were more concerned with paying off the buddies and forcing so-called unqualified minority subcontractors down the throats of legitimate contractors than bringing more money to Jackson.

Two successive administrations told residents they would not cut off their water if they did not pay their bills. The result was predictable: there were over 14,000 non-paying active accounts in 2021. 

While Jackson residents didn't pay their water/sewer bills, the city repeatedly blew off the Health Department's efforts to fix its water problems. Federal law requires Jackson to create a program for replacing led service lines. As usual, Jackson ignored the law. The Health Department threw up his hands in frustration and referred Jackson to the EPA for enforcement. The Health Department warned in June 2020 that Jackson's water system was going to implode after the next adverse event and implode it did.

The EPA inspected Jackson's water treatment plants in February 2020.  The agency discovered a pattern of neglect, malfunctioning equipment, and lack of qualified personnel at the water treatment plants. The EPA had enough as well and issued an emergency order against Jackson.

The mayor covered it up for over a year until this website reported its existence. He hid behind closed doors when the media and City Council tried to get information about the order. This so-called investigative team of reporters left all of this out in their story. Indeed, some of these same media outlets knew about the order for several months and chose not to report it because it would screw up their social justice narrative. That's right, some of the Jackson media knew about the EPA order and sat on .   Such is to be expected from the Jackson media. It's easier for them to tell stories then report actual facts. Notice how none of the stories ever include statements from the other side.

The lead problem needs to be reported. Unfortunately it is quite clear Gannett pulled out its Flint playbook and is following it to the letter, facts be damned.

Note: how many times can the newspaper interviewed James Brooks for a water story?