Monday, October 30, 2023

Can Jackson Actually Pay Its Bills?

 Can Jackson actually pay its bills? I don't mean it can't pay its bills because it''s broke.  I mean can it actually pay its bills when it has the money to pay them.  WLBT reported Friday: 

On Tuesday, the Jackson City Council ordered the administration to provide copies of all past-due invoices to the council auditor within 24 hours.

The order includes a provision saying the council would use its statutory authority to freeze the salaries of employees responsible for fulfilling the order if they failed to comply.

“There has to be something that’s done... to fix this,” Council President Aaron Banks said. “Something is not going on internally when an invoice can sit on a desk for two years.”

Documents show 63 invoices have gone unpaid for more than 45 days, in violation of state statute, and another 14 that will be 45 days past due as of midnight Friday.

State statute requires invoices to be paid within 45 days. Contractors can charge interest if the city fails to do so.

Past-due amounts include nearly $495,000 that was due to JXN Water on August 8, $24,856 for a 12-month cloud subscription due on July 5, and $21,900 for roofing materials for the Pete Brown Golf Course due on June 20....

Combined, the 63 past-due invoices total just under $600,000. The other 14 combined are worth another $30,000....

Council Vice President Angelique Lee told Malembeka council members had just learned more than 100 invoices in the Parks and Recreation Department had not been entered into the system so payments could be processed.

She’s concerned how the city’s failure to make those payments impacts minority-owned firms....

 In addition to the slowdown at Riverside, contractors walked off a job at Mill Street also for a lack of payment. Prior to that, in August 2022, a contractor picked up two sewer vacuum trucks after the city failed to make payments on them for three or four months.

Malembeka told the council part of the problem is the city’s financial operations are decentralized, with some departments reporting to him, and others reporting to the city’s chief administrative officer, Louis Wright.

In the short term, Malembeka has set up an email repository where vendors can send invoices. He’s also asked council members to inform him when contractors say they haven’t been paid.

“What you’re saying right now, today, is the same thing you said last year when we were at this place, and nothing has happened,” Banks said. “When we appropriated grant money for there to be a grants division, we went through a whole fiscal year, and nothing happened. And then, on the end of this closeout, we don’t have claims until we already are in a council meeting.”  Article & video.

Ah yes, it's the system's fault.  Funny how none of the previous administrations had problems actually paying bills.  Of course, this bunch makes the simple seem hard and expects a medal for doing so.   Of course, this is the same bunch that was screaming for Class A water plant operators over a year ago when it wasn't even advertising for them.  Better yet, remember when the Mayor said the city could not get an electrical panel for the OB Curtis Water Planet when it turned out the part had not even been ordered?  Then there were the crime stats.  The city stopped reporting them.  The administration said a new software system caused the problem.  Yeah, that was three years ago. 

 Indeed, software issues seems to be the Mayor's favorite excuse.  If employees don't do their jobs, it's because of a new software system.  If crime stats aren't posted, its because of a new software system. If bills aren't paid, well, its because of a new software system or a "clerical error." 

One might be remiss in thinking the Lumumba administration suffers from software voodoo.  However, the simple truth is the Lumumba team has no management experience and it shows in its ability to perform basic management tasks.  That, my friends, is the bottom line.

 

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe they can't pay suppliers because they never paid for the software. :P

Anonymous said...

It's the SODIR defense.


AKA - Some Other Dude Is Responsible

Anonymous said...

Resident of the burbs here.

My life would be easier if I could relocate my family to Jackson. Our professional and social lives are centered there. There are even attractive neighborhoods and houses.

But I don't see city administrators becoming competent any time soon.i only see continued failure, bickering and an increased tax burden on the few successful residents.

I wish it was different.

Anonymous said...

@11:13am - and takes all the credit when something goes right.

Anonymous said...

So we have a minority run city that will not pay its minority contractors. If this were a majority white run city that did not pay its minority contractors somebody would be hollering racism.

Anonymous said...

The money isn't there. We can speculate on where it went, but it just isn't there. Maybe Shad can take a break from writing ridiculous OP Eds and busting small time hourly workers, to instead roll up his sleeves and focus on some truly meaningful work.

Kingfish said...

Get it through your head. Mr White can't investigate a city on his own as he can a county. Barred by law and the MML likes it that way.

Anonymous said...

Funny how there is never a problem with the city employees paychecks. That seems to work flawlessly.

Anonymous said...

But Socrates always gets paid on time, as does the "big guy." Right?

Anonymous said...

Maybe we need to fire Malembeka...

Anonymous said...

Is there a standing memo, perhaps unwritten, that the mayor gets a commission commitment from a vendor before it's invoices are paid?

Anonymous said...

It's actually no different than personal finances. It's a matter of priorities. The mayor and his administration do not hold the nuts and bolts of ordinary city management as a first priority. They don't hire and fire that way. He made it no secret when he announced that Jackson would be the most radical city in the country...not the best run, not the most efficient, the best quality of life, the safest, the cleanest, most prosperous....but the MOST Radical. That's the priority in hiring, firing and management. No Wonder the results.

Anonymous said...

Maybe when the members return from this months luxury “seminar”, if there is any money left, they can pay some of the bills.

Anonymous said...

Hizzoner's city credit card statement gets paid on time, right?

Anonymous said...

I bet Sista Rukia's invoices get paid on time, right?

Anonymous said...

I bet the "IT" payment for Richards (60K$) disposal gets payed on time.
wink wink

Anonymous said...

Where has all the money gone
Long time passing
Where has all the money gone
Long time ago
Someone stole it
It's all gone
When will we ever learn

Anonymous said...

I bet if you broke down invoices by "those owed" and "those paid" and dissected it by the demographics of ownership or campaign contributions, it would be very telling.

Anonymous said...

WAPT 16 says $1.8M city invoices total are due, including past due, presumably. City is struggling to perform any function of city management, whatsoever. I'm happy Banks has asserted his authority to show this mayor for the wastrel he is, but note Virgi still making excuses for him.

Anonymous said...

"The order includes a provision saying the council would use its statutory authority to freeze the salaries of employees responsible for fulfilling the order if they failed to comply."

DOES THE COUNCIL ALSO HAVE STATUTORY ATHORITYY TO FREEZE SALARIES OF EMPLOYEES RESPONSIBLE FOR ACTUALLY DOING THE JOB THEY ARE HIRED TO DO?????

Kingfish said...

If you watch the WAPT story closely in the first minute, it counts unpaid and paid to get that amount. The WLBT story is just unpaid.

Anonymous said...

They can't perform basic city services. Yet they will all get re-elected and employees aren't held accountable. That is how it works.

Anonymous said...

Is Jxn Water going to cut off the City's water for failing to pay those thousands of dollars in unpaid water and sewer bills?

Anonymous said...

$495K is for the zoo's unpaid water bill. Haven't we seen this before?

Krusatyr said...

KF I think you intended that the WLBT story was just the 'past due', whereas WAPT is total unpaid, including past due.

I wonder if Banks used similar threat, could it generate missing crime stats?

Anonymous said...

3:29pm
Banks and Stokes will work against re-electing this fake mayor.

Anonymous said...

@3:42 PM - Like!

Anonymous said...

The sooner the city is forced into bankruptcy the better. Then the court can appoint some adults to clean up this mess.

Anonymous said...

This isn't just City of Jackson. It is rampant in state and local government because there isn't any accountability or penalty for failing to pay. By statute, the government only has to pay 1.5% interest on late payments and, even though the statute says they "shall" pay this penalty, none of them do. If you demand they pay it, they'll tell you to sue them for it, and then you'll be black-balled from ever doing business with state and local government again. Businesses have to borrow money at the prime interest rate for their line of credit (currently 8.5%) to sell goods to the government. The government should have to pay the same rate when they fail to pay for those goods. I never understood how this wasn't an unconstitutional taking. They can bankrupt a business for fun with absolutely no consequences.

Anonymous said...

"She’s concerned how the city’s failure to make those payments impacts minority-owned firms...."

And THAT is the bottom line only reason this has gotten attention.

If they white-owned, fuck 'em.

Anonymous said...

Chowke's bills for his junkets, including Canada and Florida are paid immediately, right?

Richards is paid on time, right?

Socrates is paid on time, right?

Anonymous said...

"but note Virgi still making excuses for him"

The Councilwoman is so eat up with the woke mind virus she wouldn't dare hold the Mayor accountable. In her warped brain, It'd be some sort of white privilege to do so

Anonymous said...

5:18. A more dissappointing council person is nowhere to be found.
We don't know what happened to her. She fooled us completely.

Anonymous said...

Virgi, an obsessed Lil Choke apologist, needs some mansplaining at home about financial management and due diligence from her husband, a partner/principal in a prestigious accounting firm.

Anonymous said...

This is so typical of the Antar administration.

Regarding Virgi, she's another example of why the people deserve
who they vote for ...

Anonymous said...

Not one person in the City of Jackson has a clue as to if the City can cover the checks that are written.

Anonymous said...

@4L19 - lets be honest here; totally honest.

The statutory interest payment is 1.5% but that is 1.5% per month, equating to 18% a year. Your comparison to the 8.5% (of whatever) businesses have to borrow at is an annual rate, so in proper bitching mode it is ok to equate two different numbers. But in honest commenting, you should compare apples to apples.

And the state does pay that interest rate if they ever have a late payment - and do so without being 'told' to do it. I know, having received a few of those payments. (Granted, they often take 95% of the allocated 45 days to pay, but at least you know when the payment is going to arrive in your account.) Because the state takes on its responsibility, vendors don't mind doing business with the state, in fact many solicit the business.

UNLIKE working for the City with Soul - Jackson. Many vendors refuse to respond to RFPs because they dont want to do business with the City. True also for contracts issued without a request. The ridiculous EBO requirements (paying some favored 'minority' contractor to do nothing but sign some papers, thus jacking up the cost) added to the fact that you don't get paid timely makes some ---- particularly in this market ----- pass up that 'opportunity'. But thats probably what the Mayor wants, cut out the competition so that the kush's favored few can pad their prices even more.

Anonymous said...

“Ignorant” means one doesn’t know, among many more things, how or why something has to be done in a timely fashion and yet has the capacity to gather information to come to a conclusion that, “Yes, I need to timely pay this invoice.”

“Stupid,” though, means it matters not whether a person gathers information from now till Hell freezes over, the mental acumen to come to a correct conclusion that “I need to timely pay this invoice” will not — cannot — happen ever.

Which one is it in this instance, then?

Anonymous said...

My company bids on government contracts statewide, but we don't even consider bidding, or otherwise working, for the City of Jackson. They are very difficult to work with and their reputation for very, very, delayed payments is well known. Definitely not worth the hassle.

Anonymous said...

" needs some mansplaining at home about financial management and due diligence from her husband, a partner/principal in a prestigious accounting firm.", that is a very misogynistic comment, but I like it.

Anonymous said...

9:11 'Granted, they often take 95% of the allocated 45 days to pay'

Some government payment systems are set up to handle a payment as follows:
Discount paid in 10 days, 5% discount then pay in 9 days.
No discount then pay 3 days before due.
This allows the agency to save 5% in some cases and hold money (collecting interest) until the last moment without getting a penalty. This is called managing your cash flow.

Anonymous said...

There are so many shits not being given in this day and age. Many do just enough to stay employed but everywhere I look, doing the work isn't actually a prerequisite to holding onto one's position and drawing a paycheck. No one is doing any long-range forecasting or putting the time and effort into looking down the road either in a professional sense of strategic planning or consequences (related or unrelated). I cannot join those ranks. A heavy work ethic was instilled in me by my mother throughout my life and I care every day about what I do and the effects I present to the organization. No wonder they pay me well and make an effort to keep me around. I wish more people could see the benefit of hard work and the rewards that it reaps. Many will only realize it once it's too late and they've obliterated their credibility. It's amazing to me how generations of younger folks have been cheated by their parents. What's happening with the COJ is a whole lot of that mixed with the desire to grift. We're in deep shit.

Anonymous said...

2:20 plus 1. I agree.


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