The Mississippi State Senate passed SB #2628 Tuesday. The bill creates a new public utility district that will in turn purchase Jackson's water/sewer system from the city. Although detractors claim otherwise, the bill is not a takeover but a buyout. Jackson's water/sewer receiver, Ted Henifin, supports the bill.
Section 2(a) states the Act will
a) Provide the Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Authority the option to purchase the existing water and wastewater assets from the City of Jackson at fair market value as determined by the court, provided all existing system debts have been retired or paid. Upon completion of the purchase of assets, the water and wastewater assets shall be transferred to the utility authority's ownership, management and control to ensure all citizens have access to safe, clean and reliable water and wastewater systems at affordable, just and reasonable regulated rates, and to provide an adequate amount of capital to keep such systems in good repair;Jackson's credit rating will improve as hundreds of millions of water/sewer debt are cleansed from the books and the city will undoubtedly get a rather handsome infusion of much, very much-needed cash.
The highlights of the bill are:
*Dubbed the Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Act, the bill minces no words nor spares the feelings of Jackson's Mayor as it calls JXN Water Manager Ted Henifin "the Receiver" and says the federal court placed Jackson's water/sewer system under "receivership."
* The bill creates a Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Authority that will operate Jackson's water/sewer system when the Court terminates the receivership.
* All federal funds will be spent ONLY in the service areas. Some demagogues (You know who they are) will spin this is an excuse for the legislature to steal the federal relief and spend it elsewhere in the state as they did last year. Absolutely not true and those who say it are lying. Period.
* The Chief Justice shall select the appropriate chancery or circuit court if the authority's creation is challenged.
* The Authority can issue revenue bonds.
* Transparency. The Authority and its Board of Directors are subject to the Public Records and Open Meetings Acts. Annual audited financial statements must be published.
* Competitive bidding must be used to award contracts.
* The Authority only has oversight for sewer service in Ridgeland and water service in Byram.
* The Mayor of Jackson appoints a member of the clergy who lives within the service area. (Huh? Why a member of the clergy? Just what we need, another Reverend Stallworth showing up in warmups for Board meetings)
* Jackson City Council appoints 2 Directors. One must be an employee of a local non-profit organization and the owner of a restaurant.
* Governor appoints three Directors: an employee of a large non-healthcare business that has at least 200 employees, a small business owner, and an at-large appointee who lives or works in the service area.
* Leftenent Governor appoints a member of a large healthcare facility, employee of a college or university, an at-large Director who lives or works within the service area.
All appointees must be ratepayers. The bill urges the appointees be diverse. The Senate must confirm all appointees. No current or former elected officials can serve on the Board. The appointments must be made by September 1, 2024. Terms will be four years after the initial terms expire.
The Board will meet monthly. Four meetings will be held in various locations throughout the service area. Public comment must be allowed.
The bill passed on a vote of 35-14. The Black Caucus and State Senator David Blount voted against the bill as they favor returning the system to the city of Jackson.
State Senator Horhn filed a motion to reconsider that failed.
34 comments:
They say it is not a takeover, but to 80% of the customers, that is exactly how they see it. I've said it before, but in case you have forgotten: when it comes to so many things in Jackson (water department, city government as a whole, JPS, etc) the attitude of the vast majority is "it may be a sack of dung, but its OUR sack of dung, so you other 20% can just back off".
So in what universe is having the State get the proceeds from water bills and the ability to raise the cost to consumers something that should please Jackson residents which , need I remind others includes Eastover and CCJ who still pay provide the largest revenues to the State?
You want our water system run by the same folks that gave us every scandal of late?
This is a good bill. As a Jackson resident, I support it wholeheartedly. Smart to get ahead of the Mayor attempting to appoint himself to the board! Learned our lesson with the 1% commission.
Horhn was out that day, something with his family.
I'm relieved this bill passed. I don't care for the idea that the mayor and city council get appointments. Atleast its an odd number of appointments so they won't get deadlocked.
The absolute BEST part of the bill....."at fair market value as determined by the court" That's what is making a few folks so mad. They want to dictate the price. But Judge Wingate will be doing that. Thank God.
Things are looking up in Jackson. Now, if someone reasonably competent
and semi-popular would run for Mayor and the CCID would be expanded to include the areas obviously left out that shouldn't have been.
Every legislative action that gets jokeway and the city council farther away from governing Jackson is an improvement.
thank you, legislature!
The government of our State's capitol city has aptly demonstrated again and again that it is incapable of providing proper water/sewer, police protection, garbage collection, and passable streets. The less the city of Jackson's Mayor, city council, and city employees control the better! Take it all away!
11:37 - As someone who's lived through this disaster, I want for the system to be managed in-state but as far away from the COJ as it can be. If the legislature doesn't come up with a plan, the feds will and trust me, we don't want that AT ALL. Because the fact of the matter is that the federal government didn't dump close to a billion dollars into our water system so that it can end up in the same shape it was in before.
$600M question!!! Will it pass the house???
City can't handle the system, so this makes complete sense. Whether the Authority or the City, the entire system including billing, will have to be privatized. Doesn't pass, Judge will have to appoint a replacement for Ted.
4 more years of Antar, and Jackson, Will be pretty much hollowed out.
I am actually excited to see this for the city of Jackson. This is great news.
Had the water not gone in to receivership, this city would be well beyond miserable...... This bill actually gives the city of Jackson hope for a future.
How much would Rukia's buyout commission be? Asking for her brother.
Desperate times call for desperate action. But they are fools to pay the COJ anything for the water system. You can still flush a toilet in the capitol district with water that hasn't been boiled. Accountability plays no part in anything anymore, incompetence rules the day and is rewarded.
Can the City of Byram purchase its portion of the system from the Authority? They are more likely to offer it at fair market value than Antard.
Did they ever get around to paying Jackson for the airport?
Perhaps the answer to the myriad of management problems in Jackson and its infrastructure, is to take the politics out of running the City, and let a "professional" handle running the management and operation of the City, as we are now experiencing with the water system. I lived in Pascagoula for over 40 years. It operates under the "city manager" form of government. Under this system, although the manager is answerable to the council ("hired and fired" by the council), the mayor and city council are precluded by law from interfering with the manager's day-to-day management of city operations. The city council and mayor set policy, approve monthly expenditures of bills, and approve some hirings.
I’m a Democrat. But I’ve lived in Jackson for over 20 years. So I’m a realist. This mayor can’t run anything. This is necessary and I’m grateful to the legislature for doing it. Hopefully the next mayor will be competent and not blatantly crooked. But you can’t risk it.
I can’t emphasize enough how much better the water system is under Henefin. If Lumumba got his hands back on it his priority would be steering contracts. Don’t take my word for it. He’s basically said it. Also just look at how he’s handled the garbage contracts. He’s not capable of even pretending he doesn’t have anterior motives for steering the contract to Richards.
Now expand the CCID. You can’t find anyone in Jackson who doesn’t support Capital City Police.
I can not fathom how anyone can put a dollar value on an entire city’s water infrastructure. Parts are broken and worthless, most is at least functional, and a bit is new. Various parts built in the 19th century, and the whole thing has got to be replaced in the next 50 years or less. I’m sure no private investor would pay anything with the upcoming replacement costs in mind. There should be a way to simply manage it with a regional board with no payment upfront but pay the city the eventual profits it would have made had it not been run into the ground. Lifetime Jackson citizen here saying giving the city any lump sum of cash is not wise, unless perhaps we force the city to use every dime to repair the roads.
To the Authority, City Council appoints a Restaurant Owner. Extra serving of crow for the mayor.
While I agree the state will likely run the water system better than the city, let's not play word games with what this is. What is a forced buyout if not a takeover?
Will Rukia pay her taxes?
March 15, 2024 at 2:08 PM
Sure it sucks that Jackson will misspend the money, but it's better to tell the media it's a buyout than a takeover. Remember the media is hostile as they see it as whites taking away power from blacks.
March 15, 2024 at 3:34 PM
To my knowledge we're still waiting on the 5 Circuit's ruling.
4:14 - I'm Republican leaning but also a realist and a home owner in Jackson. I can't find a word that you wrote there that I don't agree with.
Like the airport, I'm not sure this is constitutional. I'm no fan of Jackson governance, but stealing is stealing. They will never agree to an arm's length valuation. And just because the state takes the water system, it is still under receivership.
How is it stealing if city is paid for it?
The Fifth Circuit has also held twice that cities are creations of the state in Mississippi. The legislature can giveth and taketh away where they are concerned.
If Jackson doesn't agree and they pay Jackson $10, that is still stealing. They will never come to terms. Jackson paid for that airport. You take it, that is stealing.
Kingfish is correct as usual. Municipalities are political subdivisions of the State of Mississippi. Therefore, the legislature, i.e., the State, has the ultimate say in the matter.
They don't have to agree to it. That's the whole point of the court being involved to ensure a fair price. And, yes, it stays in Henifin's hands until the court decides its time, which will be sometime in 2027.
One would think that Chowke would be happy to $ell their boo boo. Maybe $ocrates could be hired to do the apprai$al. Right?
Yes It is a little disappointing that protecting turf is more important than providing good clean consistent water.
Maybe we can put Baby chok a commission on everything he sales to the state. He would probably be all for that.
If a business were having liquidity issues, it would sell or leverage its assets to raise cash. Is this not precisely what is happening?
The city can take the money and either use it for the good or squander it, and I do not have a good feeling about that ...
If Jackson gets a check for the water system, they will just steal all the money.
Doesn’t anyone ever learn they steal every dime and cry broke?
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