Jackson Jambalaya

 Jackson Mayor John Horhn issued the following statement. 

The Mississippi Free Press (MFP) article on the Jackson water authority bill repeats a familiar and misleading narrative that blurs the failures of the past with the hard choices we are making now to stabilize this system and return it to accountable, local control. Our administration is focused on a simple goal: securing long‑term, sustainable funding for water operations in a structure that is subject to state ethics and procurement laws, and answerable to the people who pay the bills every month.

For years, JXN Water’s financial management has raised alarms, including repeated warnings that the utility is “currently insolvent” and cannot meet its obligations under the current model, even as it has pushed rate increases on Jackson residents. Judge Wingate has now approved a 12% rate hike while ordering a closer review of JXN Water’s finances and collections, underscoring deep concern about how the system has been run and funded. Judge Wingate has ordered a forensic audit of JXN Water, which he plans to oversee. The idea that asking hard questions about collections, spending, and debt structure is “fiscal fantasy,” as Mr. Henifin stated, ignores the reality that families in Jackson are already stretched thin and deserve clear answers before they are told to pay more.

It is especially troubling that Mr. Henifin, an unelected federally appointed manager who currently controls JXN Water and has broad discretion over no‑bid and limited‑competition contracting, is now placing his thumb on the scale to try to kill legislation that would place future water operations under a public authority bound by Mississippi law, open‑meetings requirements, and conflict‑of‑interest rules. Even the MFP article acknowledges that he has flagged the lack of guardrails against self‑dealing in the proposed authority, while he himself operates today under a structure that gives him wide latitude to award and manage contracts with far less public oversight. It should not surprise anyone that a person in that position is uncomfortable with a governance model that would require long‑term accountability to a board with majority Jackson representation, subject to the same ethics expectations as every other public body in this state.

While continuing to try to tie the current City of Jackson administration to ones from the past, Mr. Henifin is willfully omitting the fact that he appropriated sanitation fees owed to the City to make his September interest payments for JXN Water debt, without objection from the City. He has neglected to mention that it was the City who stepped up and made JXN Water's December bond payment of $5.1 million and that the Mayor personally intervened with our Congressional Delegation and the EPA in support of moving $54 million in Capital Funds to Operations & Maintenance in order to keep JXN Water afloat; neither has he mentioned that the City of Jackson is actively moving forward to re-finance a portion of JXN Water's debt to give the system breathing room.

The City of Jackson will continue to support legislation that keeps Jackson as a majority voting bloc for the authority, protects ratepayers from endless increases with no transparency, and ensures that whoever runs this system is accountable under Mississippi’s laws, not just a federal order. Jackson’s residents did not cause this crisis, and they should not be asked to accept the same insolvency and the same lack of oversight dressed up as the only responsible option.

In addition to personally overseeing the forensic audit, Judge Wingate ordered many of Mayor Horhn’s requested actions to ensure that every reasonable alternative is pursued before additional burdens are placed on residents.

1. Identify and bill unmetered and unbilled properties:  

   JXN Water should expedite the identification and billing of currently unmetered or unbilled properties and provide quarterly progress reports detailing:  

   - The number of new accounts added, and  

   - The specific revenue impact of these additions.  

2. Restore an in-person customer service presence:  

   JXN Water should establish and maintain a physical, in-person site within the City of Jackson where residents can bring complaints, resolve billing disputes, and receive help understanding their bills from a professional and respectful staff.  

3. Provide a clear “sample bill” to the public:  

   JXN Water should create and make publicly available a simple “sample bill” so residents can see, line by line, how charges are calculated and what each part of the bill means.  

4. Study a fairer tiered rate structure:  

JXN Water should study the feasibility of a tiered system wherer   lower-volume users are better protected.  

5. Pursue a vigorous, fair collections strategy for past-due accounts:  

   JXN Water should develop and refine a strong but fair collections strategy for the estimated $74 million in outstanding arrears, with quarterly public reports on progress. This strategy should focus on:  

   - Collecting from those with the ability to pay,  

   - Offering reasonable options for those who genuinely cannot pay, and  

   - Reducing the need to lean on across-the-board rate increases.

At the end of the day, the City of Jackson wants a reliable water system that is sustainably funded, ensures everyone who receives water pays their fair share, and fulfills our obligations to our residents and the federal government. Jackson families are being asked to pay higher bills into a system that JXN Water itself describes as insolvent, with little say and limited transparency about where their money goes. It should surprise no one that a man who is currently cutting and managing the contracts under this fragile setup is uncomfortable with legislation that would force accountability and public oversight. Our administration will not accept a future where the people of Jackson keep footing the bill while the same insolvency and lack of accountability continue unchanged.

Kingfish note: What stirred up the Mayor was Nick Judin's interview with Henefin in the Mississippi Free Press.  The JXN Water Manager spelled out his problems with HB #1677.  Some quotes: 

“As a whole, without major changes in this bill, it’s potentially going to drive the system right back to where it was,” Henifin said....

First and foremost were the strict rules governing rate increases and major expenditures, a last-minute amendment that requires 3/4ths of what was once a 12-member board to agree on any expenditures above $5,000,000—a fraction of the yearly budget—and any rate increases. With the board cut down to 9 members in the version that passed the House, that would mean the mayor and their two direct appointees would have an unbreakable veto over the most important decisions of the proposed authority.

“ All you need is to have two holdouts and you can control everything that revolves around rates or contract awards over $5 million … which puts us right back where we were,” Henifin said. “And I’d say it won’t take long to get back into the failing water system if you can’t get the resources.”...

Beyond the board, Henifin noted that basic restrictions on how the new utility operates were missing in the bill, leaving the door open for self-dealing and exploitation. No provision in the bill prevents contracts being awarded to board members themselves, or to their families or businesses. Nor does the new entity have to follow Mississippi procurement law, with its restrictions on bidding....

Taken together, Henifin’s individual concerns over the proposed entity begin to coalesce into a vision of overlapping, escalating complications: Without serious backing, the new entity could face an increasingly expensive water and sewer system, with a board paralyzed against increasing revenue thanks to the input of a single elected politician, potentially cannibalized by a lack of ethical guardrails against enriching its own members and separate city funding pools, expecting salvation from a federal loan program ill-equipped to properly fund it...