Jackson Jambalaya

Cash flow statement, ha! The bills were not being paid

Any word on the statement credit for the garbage snafu?

It's only a perception of a severely mismanaged and corrupt city. Right?

This does not show that revenues from sales of water is not being collected.
What is indicated is the continued cost of repair and maintenance of a system that was neglected for decades and STILL has to deal with neglect of flood control and stress to the system from flooding.

And, once the system is fully updated, water /sewer can translate to revenue. That's why the state wants to take it from the city.

It's always a good idea to look at systems that function well and see how that efficiency was achieved. But, no...Melvin Priester seemed to be the only one in the city who knew how to research a problem before taking a position.

I can't blame him for giving up in frustration and deciding to just prosper for his family instead.

We run off our smart children especially if they were smart enough to go to an Ivy League school. Indeed, we ran off two brilliant Republican young men with lovely families, now in their 40's and doing well in other states.

Anyone interested in the financials and the boilling and collection failures needs to look at the section of the audit on page 51.

It's in the Detailed notes in all funds section and labeled RECEIVABLES AND PAYABLES.

Gross receivables for the year ended September 30, 2022:

Water and Sewage Disposal Fund $142,291,000
with
Allowance for uncollectible $120,612,000.

Sanitation Fund $22,545,000
with
Allowance for uncollectible $20,378,000.

Amounts charged off to uncollectible for these two funds in the year ended September 30, 2022:

Water and Sewage Disposal Fund $36,768,213

Sanitation Fund $6,128,843.

Free water isn't free...

Water is free in the Kush!

It amazes me that routine matters in the city of Jackson become major issues that go on for months, or years. Things like water, garbage or building maintenance. Other cities take care of these issues in mere hours as agenda items, and they have competent people who manage city finances, operate city functions and carry out maintenance. The fact that Jackson cannot do this is just stunning.

Let's not forget all the hospitals that dug their own wells and got off city water because, well you know, hospitals need water.

Yep. And those visionaries who took the hospitals off city water years ago seem quite brilliant now. Good move on their part.

It was not neglected for decades. The second half of OBC was built in the mid-2000's. The system had savings and generated a profit. It was able to take care of bidness. Then the Siemens deal took place, blowing up the finances. Neglect took place over the last decade, not decades.

Speaking of hospitals and doctor offices. In Madison, the city, medical facilities are being built at a phenomenal rate. Thanks to the city of Jackson.

Where are they getting (borrowing) the monies being misspent? Somebody is going to be in for some sad surprises, sooner than later.

Correct. Decade, singular. Anyone remember lumumba's wannabe rapstar campaign picture for his first run?

As I recall from another thread, about a livid woman alternately screaming at people, and emptying diapers into flowerbeds, there IS NO BUSINESS OFFICE, where people can go to pay their bills. If I read that article wrong, please correct me. But really, one should expect unpaid bills, if one does not maintain an office where people can go to pay their bills. Subbing that function out to Walmart or wherever, is NOT the same thing. And expecting Jacksonians to conduct business via cell phones & laptops, is sheer lunacy.

... is sheer lunacy.

Considering that the losses in question are from 2022 your comment is sheer lunacy.

12:24: That article about the livid woman is about her argument with employees of JXN Water, which I don't believe ran Jackson's water system in 2022. This article is about 2022.

Ten million here, ten million there...pretty soon we are going to be talking about real money.

10:41, God bless you, but apparently you are brand new to this issue and don’t have any background information. There has been neglected maintenance on the underground distribution lines for decades, but the 2022 water crisis was created 100% by the current administration. They didn’t collect enough to even perform the most critical maintenance or provide proper staffing and the system predictably broke down. Those who use the chronic problem of old pipes to deflect blame are misleading at best. Had Jackson collected water bills instead of performing a great social experiment, they could have done what Ted Henefin did and eliminate the need for boil water notices.

I have paid my water bill consistently on time and in full for all of my adult life. I expect no reward for doing my duty. However, at the same time, I do not expect to subsidize non-payers.

This has got to be a satire post.

Y’all just don’t get Lamumbalot’s strategy. He allowed his constituents to have free water whilst running the system into the ground and creating an emergency thus allowing the Feds to come in and fix the system. Lamumbalot didn’t raise the water rates or increase taxes for basic City services, Heflin did. Come next election, the same constituents will reelect him yet again. Right?

Just paid my exorbitant water bill.
Looks like they are asking me to pay for all their losses.
What percentage of folks actually pay their water bills?
Am I the only one?

I hope you are wrong but you may very well be right.

When Jackson identified as a service provider to the taxpayers

Nobody will admit it but when it comes to graft in water billing and collections Yarber was right all along.

They have probably lost more revenue since 2016 or so than Ted has spent to date. Didn’t have to end this way. Siemens can maybe take some blame but it’s mostly on Yarber and Lumumba.

They have probably lost more revenue since 2016 or so than Ted has spent to date. Didn’t have to end this way. Siemens can maybe take some blame but it’s mostly on Yarber and Lumumba.

That big talking David Blount is nowhere to be seen now.

3:23 those of us living in Ridgeland pay our water bills on time which allows the city of Ridgeland to maintain the system. And when a well pump motor fails the city immediately executes a response to the outage.

Last one to leave this nauseating mess of a city, please turn off the lights.

Don't let it be forgotten that a large majority of this deficit could have been recouped in the Siemens lawsuit where Lumumba pimped out the legal team to an out of state law firm of his buddies who siphoned $30mil off the top. One third of the recovery went to his cronies out of state. This lawsuit was so cut and dry that any local law firm could have won it and done it pro bono or at a highly discounted price. That is if any of Chok's local attorney friends truly cared about Jackson and not using Jackson as a slush fund.

@3:13 You're almost right. The system was allowed to go to hell so that there would be huge influx of federal money to grift, and, also, maybe, fix part of the system. However, never fix so much that you can't ask for every subsequent year. What Chumbawumba didn't count on was the judge cutting him out, and allowing honest people to spend the money who actually fix the system. At this rate the water and sewer systems will soon be running perfectly and there will be no need for additional federal money. Good gosh, at this rate, it will take YEARS to screw things up bad enough for more grant money.

Every city in the country make a profit of water sales. Water is about the only service the pays it on way and more!!

8:25, There are very few slam dunks in litigation, and even those can go sideways. There were a lot of subcontractors who did the actual work, and some of those may have been less than competent.

I suspect the Siemens lawsuit was more of a shakedown to avoid bad publicity on a deal with a black city in Mississippi.