Magnolia Tribune

The Once and Future Conservative

Published

1 year ago

June 18, 2023

More than any singular policy position, conservatism describes a set of beliefs on the relationship between God and man, man and government, and man and himself.

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh has stirred controversy in recent years through his documentary “What is a Woman?” The question is poignant because while it should be easy to answer, great mental gymnastics are performed to avoid that easy answer.

One might apply the same level of ridicule to people trying to answer the question “what is a conservative?” these days. There was a time when the response was fairly baked. More than any single policy position, conservatism described a set of beliefs on the relationship between God and man, man and government, and man and himself.

One of the best and most concise descriptions of these relationships appears in our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

There are three clear ideas that emerge. Rights come from God, not government. It’s government’s job to secure these rights, not impose upon or embellish them. Government’s power is derived from the people–people’s freedom is not derived from government power.

From this understanding springs a clear framework for judging policy and politicians. But conservatism is also something more than a philosophical barometer. It is the demonstrable key to the long-term stability and success of our nation.

An Unfortunate Deviation

Unfortunately, in the current era, the ideology of conservatism has been bastardized almost beyond recognition–a label affixed to whatever politician or policy the tribe prefers in any given moment, unmoored from any real principle.

In deep red states like Mississippi, there are “conservative” calls for tax increases, “conservative” opposition to tax reduction, “conservative” efforts to expand the scope and size of government, and “conservative” plays to control the economy and favor entrenched interests. The phrase is frequently used as a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for faulty products, and has become so ubiquitous as to lose much of its meaning.

In attitude, too often today “conservative” is defined by who is the loudest and most brazen, or by what conservatives are not, as in “at least we’re not those guys.” But loud, angry, and obnoxious does not a conservative make. Neither does a self-identity tied up in “owning the libs.”

Fundamentally, conservatives believe, and thousands of years of human history establish, the greatest catalyst for human thriving is individual freedom. The greatest threat to freedom is the top-down concentration of power. Indeed, almost every large scale atrocity in human history is a byproduct of the gathering of political power to subjugate people–most often vulnerable minorities.

The Relationship Between God and Man

Enlightment philosophers spoke of natural law or natural rights. Thomas Jefferson, who penned the Declaration, said that man was endowed by his Creator with unalienable rights. The notion is that there are knowable rights that all men possess simply by virtue of existing.

The great beauty of this starting point is the presence of moral order, wisdom, and hope that transcends the temporary and fallible nature of man.

John Locke’s formulation included the right to life, liberty, and property. Jefferson’s slight variation was the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

At some level, life is self-explanatory. A belief that a right to life is ordained shines a light on why conservatives are often so energized against abortion. They believe it is the unjustified taking of life.

Liberty, properly understood, is the right to think, speak, and act according to your conscience, so long as your actions do not directly harm another. The closing caveat is often expressed as “my ability to throw a punch ends at your nose.”

Liberty is a rich concept that speaks to both economic and non-economic activity. Included in the concept of liberty is the right to hold and express views that others may find repugnant. This is why conservatives should be leary of restrictions on free expression or laws that impede peaceful assembly and protest.

Also included is the ability to use your knowledge, skill, and effort to provide for yourself by offering goods and services that others want or need. The other side of the economic transaction is the freedom of a person to decide how to spend their own money without government interference.

This is voluntary exchange, or free enterprise, in a nutshell. It results in people who create the most value being rewarded. The potential for reward, or profit, provides motivation for the productivity and innovation that ultimately improves lives. This is why conservatives should be concerned by overregulation of the economy.

The fruit of your labor is your property. Property rights are preeminently important because if your property can be taken, then your labor becomes free. No person should be compelled to work without compensation.

It’s also important because private property ownership lends itself to better use of the property itself. There is a stewardship effect, because someone who earned property understands the labor involved to earn it. This is why conservatives push back on taxes that do not go to fund core government functions. They believe people have a right to the fruits of their labor, and practically, that people spend their money more wisely than government.

The Relationship Between Man and Government

Because conservatives believe that life, liberty, and property are natural rights and the conditions upon which humankind thrives, the preservation of those rights are of first importance. Government, then, has the primary function of protecting those natural rights.

Because conservatives believe that the concentration of power is the biggest threat to natural rights, the same government that exists to protect natural rights must be limited in power.

These beliefs were at the heart of the Declaration of Independence and at the forefront of the debate over the U.S. Constitution. The design of the Constitution was to limit the federal government to a small number of specific responsibilities and then divide its power between three branches.

John Adams, the second president of these United States, described the republican form of government created by the founders as “a nation of laws and not of men.” What Adams was describing was the “rule of law.” The rule of law limits the creation of rules to a public process. It requires simplicity in lawmaking so that normal people can understand what is required of them. It also demands equality in the application of law.

Conservatives believe in the rule of law. They believe no one person is above the law. They oppose arbitrary application of the law.

Historically, these beliefs have placed conservatives in stark contrast to those who want to grow government to impose their will. Process mattered. Limits on power mattered. Without those defining characteristics, “conservatives” and “progressives” become two sides of the same coin–both trying to gain power to “own” the other side.

It bears noting that the rights expressed by both Locke and Jefferson were so-called “negative” rights. A negative right restrains others from depriving a right holder. Respect for a negative right does not come at a cost to anyone else.

“Positive” rights impose a cost on others. As an example, if someone says they have a right to health care, that’s the expression of a positive right since fulfilling it would require the involuntary taking of something–either money or services–from another. Positive rights have the effect of establishing unequal application of law, by treating some people’s rights as subservient to the rights of others.

To a conservative, the point of government is to protect natural rights and preserve the rule of law so that those rights are equally available to all. It is not the point of government to manage our lives or provide for us.

The Relationship Between Man and Himself

That natural rights were “endowed by our Creator” sparks an additional, dutiful aspect to the equation. The natural rights bestowed were not something to be handled haphazardly or hedonistically, but with the care and discernment of someone grateful for the gift of life, liberty, and property.

If government’s primary function is to preserve natural rights and not to order the day-to-day affairs of man, then man must learn to exist on his own and within his community.

This requires personal responsibility. It requires finding a way to earn a living to take care of oneself and one’s family. It requires finding ways to civily engage with neighbors and contribute to the wellbeing of one’s community.

In this way, conservatism is more than a set of philosophical or political beliefs, it includes a behavioral component.

Conservatism also recognizes the great virtue of personal restraint and results in a certain level of decorum that is not prone to rage and emotional outbreaks. It does not resort to a “they did it first” mentality, engage in sophomoric whining, or don the mantle of victim.

Nastiness and petulance are not conservative virtues.

The “Failings” of Conservatism

The obvious (and cheap) retort to any argument that cites our founders or their intellectual predecessors is to point out the great evil that plagued that era–slavery. But that argument is not one that cuts against the principles of our founding.

Instead, it is one that exposes the imperfect application of those principles at the time of our founding, and the hypocrisy of some of our founders.

Slavery did not exist because of the concept of liberty. It was the antithesis of liberty. Slavery was not a byproduct of voluntary exchange of labor. It was the antithesis of voluntary exchange of labor.

In other words, the evil was not the principle. The evil was a result of divergence from the principle. The same could be said of other notable examples of atrocity. From the holocaust to the Russian and Chinese communist parties’ genocide in the 20th Century, over 100 million people lost their lives because natural rights were violated by tyrannical governments.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is a segment of Republicans in the post-Trump world who are equally critical of traditional conservative thought. Again, much of this angst is a result of conservative failure to live up to principle, not the failure of the principle itself.

For decades, Republican politicians promised lower taxes, less government, less regulation, and freer markets. For decades, voters sat back and watched as little of it came to fruition. It’s not surprising then that the lip service paid to these ideas fell out of favor, or that disappointed voters decided that if they could not have more freedom and smaller government, they’d gravitate toward gathering political power for their tribe.

In each of these cases, though, the answer is not to jettison what set our nation apart for most of its history.

The Future of Conservatism

In our lifetimes, there has never been a greater need for the stability of true conservatism. The foundations of the greatest economy in human history have been shaken over the decades. The free enterprise system is being eroded by socialists on one side of the spectrum, and too frequently, by business interests that gain unfair advantage through political relationships on the other side of the spectrum.

Personal responsibility has been replaced by perpetual cycles of victimhood and blame. The building blocks of society–family and community–have been torn asunder. Instead of treating Americans like contributors, we treat them like dependents. Universal truth finds itself out of vogue, replaced by the notion that we can all define our own “truth.” Free speech is no longer free if it counters elitist narratives. Incivility is the order of the day.

All is not lost. America has faced turbulence before and overcome. Stable, strong, and clarion voices can rise to remind us that what made America great was not any one leader, but a set of ideals.

Defending the heart of conservatism is important, particularly in the midst of a populist moment that threatens to erode the ideals that made America exceptional in the first place. Breathing new life into a battle-tested approach can provide the stability desperately needed to overcome uncertainty and set us on a path to continued growth and prosperity.

Reanimating the principles of conservatism can also offer a radical alternative to our current political landscape–where both parties, at times, seem more consumed with gathering power to impose their will on the other, than limiting the power that would allow for this imposition in the first place.

The post The Once and Future Conservative appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

By: Russ Latino
Title: The Once and Future Conservative
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/06/18/the-once-and-future-conservative/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-once-and-future-conservative
Published Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2023 12:30:00 +0000

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Magnolia Tribune

Staring mortality in the face at Christmas

Published

12 months ago

December 16, 2023

Staff Editor

My friend Jarrod is dying after an eight year battle with cancer. He’s lived a life worth celebrating, one that has drawn people to Christ.

I was going about my business this week when I received a text that stopped me in my tracks. A college friend was being moved to hospice care.

Jarrod Egley was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in early 2017. In the fall of 2018, tests revealed the cancer had spread to his lungs and Jarrod’s cancer was classified as Stage IV.

For almost eight years from the date of the original diagnosis, he’s fought. Through surgeries, radiation, endless rounds and cycles of chemotherapy, and experimental immunotherapies, he’s fought.

Last year, I flew out to California and spent some time with Jarrod and his wife, Emily. We sat outside one night. He acknowledged to me that it was not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’ the cancer would claim his life. I told him I was sorry, because what else is there to say?

We talked about our faith, about the trials of Job, about Jacob wrestling with God, about Paul’s affliction. But mostly we reflected on our time together in school, on the good things, and the mundane things, that happened since.

Jarrod and I met at Tulane University. One Sunday morning in the Spring of my freshman year, I rose from my dorm room bed, dressed, and began walking down Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans with no particular agenda. I walked until I came across First Baptist Church and the thought flickered in the vacuous recesses of my brain to enter.

Some would say it was a lark. The Calvinist in me says providence. The walk that morning changed the trajectory of my time at Tulane and my life on the whole. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the Baptist Collegiate Ministry became central to my life and put me in regular league with Jarrod. I met him first at the BCM and we ultimately ended up attending church together.

Jarrod was a faithful servant on and off campus. He helped organize a group of us that would weekly make our way down to the Esplanade seawall on the backside of the French Quarter to feed the homeless. On Friday nights, he could be found at chapel with a small cadre of students foregoing Bourbon Street for early 2000s worship music.

Jarrod was a loyal friend in those years. Never rude or biting. Not prone to an insult for an easy laugh. Persistently encouraging. An engineering student, his mind worked linearly and was oriented to problem solving. There were never a lot of wasted words — always a lot of deliberative questions when he disagreed or did not understand a point. He exhibited intelligence, empathy, and the kind of moral conviction that sets someone apart.

He also had a wry and dry sense of humor and a penchant for beating people at Madden football. He was fair-to-midland on the ultimate frisbee pitch. Along the way, there were crawfish boils, Mardi Gras outtings, poorly attended Tulane football games, and more than a decent amount of wing eating.

After college, I lost touch with Jarrod. He moved back to his home state of California. He got married to his college sweetheart, who could not have anticipated her husband’s journey, but has been a steady and constant helpmate throughout. Jarrod became a very successful engineer and a bourbon connoisseur. One of his bucket list trips took him to Kentucky, where he got to meet and became friends with bourbon “Hall of Famer” Freddie Johnson of Buffalo Trace acclaim.

Jarrod at Buffalo Trace Distillery (Spring 2022).

Sitting in his backyard nearly 20 years after graduating from Tulane, I saw many of the same qualities I had grown to admire when we were students together. I saw a husband who doted on and supported Emily’s passions. But I also saw someone whose body had been beaten to hell and back, who was tired, and who, like Jacob, had been wrestling with God. We quickly fell back into friendship, which perhaps is the mark of good friendship.

We all have aspirations in our youth — for the kind of spouse or parent we might be, for what we might accomplish, for what we might experience. Along the way, dreams are satisfied, modified, or they die on the vine. The clock inevitably works against all of us. That night in Oceanside, California, Jarrod, a numbers guy, saw that time was not on his side. He believed, as we all would, that he still had more to give, more impact to be made, and more things to see and experience.

After that trip, Jarrod and I stayed in touch, most frequently triggered by news of his cancer. It has been mostly the bad variety in recent months. Now spread throughout his body, down to his bones, he has lived in constant pain for months. Not even a steady diet of morphine and an implanted pain pump solve for it. Jarrod’s been hospitalized twelve times just in 2023.

But his matter of fact sense of humor and way of seeing the world remains in tact. So too does his faith that despite these trials, he has always been safe in the hands of Christ.

There are people in the world who believe that life is random, disordered, and without reason. I am not among them. I think my friend is staring mortality in the face at Christmas for a reason.

For thousands of years before Christ came, there was darkness and despair. Sin and shame gripped the hearts of men. Until one holy night, God, in His infinite love, mercy and wisdom, sent His son to save. Jesus is the light of the world and the hope of man. He has won victory over death and Jarrod’s will not be the exception. Jesus came for Jarrod, and for you.

For thousands of years since Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, His disciples have been used as divine instruments to point the way to God. Jarrod is among them. If life expectancies were the measure, Jarrod would be at the midway point for most people. He’s made a lifetime of impact for the Kingdom and on other people.

So, to my friend Jarrod, you were placed here with a purpose. You have run your race. You are loved. And when this chapter closes, you will hear “well done, my good and faithful servant.” There is no greater evidence of a life well lived.

While Jarrod and Emily have been fortunate to have health insurance, their portion of the medical bills so far in 2023 have eclipsed $30,000, and Emily is facing additional uncovered expenses during Jarrod’s hospice care, including a night nurse that costs over $400 a night. If you would like to help defray the cost, a contribution can be made at their Go Fund Me page.

The post Staring mortality in the face at Christmas appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

By: Russ Latino
Title: Staring mortality in the face at Christmas
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/12/16/staring-mortality-in-the-face-at-christmas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=staring-mortality-in-the-face-at-christmas
Published Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:05:22 +0000

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Magnolia Tribune

Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023

Published

12 months ago

December 15, 2023

Staff Editor

Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.

In Mississippi

1. Laurin St. Pe’ named CEO of Singing River Health System

The Board of Trustees of Singing River Health System announced the immediate appointment of Laurin St. Pe’ as the Chief Executive Officer on Thursday.

“We are thrilled to announce Laurin St. Pe as the new CEO of Singing River,” said Steve Ates, Board President in a statement. “His wealth of healthcare experience and proven track record make him the ideal leader to steer our health system toward its next phase of growth and success.”

St. Pe’, who has been serving as Interim CEO since July 2023, said he is honored to assume the role of CEO at Singing River. He has worked at Singing River as Administrator of Singing River Health System’s Pascagoula Hospital and Gulfport Hospital, in addition to overseeing program service lines throughout the entire system to his subsequent appointment as Chief Operating Officer of Singing River.

The health system says St. Pe played a crucial role in the financial revitalization of Singing River Health System while steering the organization toward financial stability.

2. Gulfport-Biloxi airport, Stennis evacuated after threats

The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport was evacuated on Thursday morning “out of an abundance of caution,” airport officials said, after receiving an emailed threat to certain transportation entities across the state.

The airport was thoroughly security swept, cleared and reopened in just over two hours. Gulfport-Biloxi is now operating regularly.

The threat was also sent to Stennis International Airport. Their staff and personnel were also evacuated until the facilities could be swept and cleared.

Any passenger whose travel was affected by the evacuation is encouraged to contact their respective air carrier.

3. Cassidy arrested in Iowa for beheading Satanic Temple statue

Former Mississippi congressional and legislative candidate Michael Cassidy was arrested this week in Iowa for beheading a statue at the state’s Capitol erected by The Satanic Temple.

Cassidy reportedly decapitated the statue and turned himself to police on Thursday. He was charged with fourth degree criminal mischief. He then started an online legal defense fund where he’s raised upwards of $20,000 as of Thursday night, according to his X account.

4. “Serial fraudster” ordered to cease offering investments into companies

According to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office, on October 26, 2023, Secretary Michael Watson and the Securities Division issued an order against Stephone N. Patton. The SOS says Patton is a serial fraudster with multiple criminal convictions in Mississippi and Florida.

Through business filings with the SEC and Mississippi, Patton has held himself to be the CEO of various companies, including Star Oil and Gas Company, Inc., North Gulf Energy Corporation, Inc., Patton Oilfield Services, Inc., and Patton Farms, LLC.

The SOS says using these business filings and company websites, Patton claimed to have raised hundreds of billions of dollars through investment opportunities. Through investigative efforts and collaboration with the SEC, the SOS discovered none of Patton’s companies are operational, have any assets, or generate any revenues. Account records show Patton spent investors’ funds almost as soon as he received them on personal expenses. The total amount of known investments made to Patton’s fraudulent companies is over $80,000. Further, none of Patton’s investment offerings have been registered or notice filed with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office.

The SOS order requires Patton to cease and desist from offering investments with his companies, requiring Patton to permanently deactivate his companies’ websites to prevent any further dissemination of his false or misleading information. Patton is also ordered to pay an administrative penalty of $25,000 to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office for these violations, in addition to restitution owed to all his Mississippi investors.

National News & Foreign Policy

1. Congressional retirements mounting as 2024 election cycle nears

Retirement and departure announcements are piling up ahead of the start to the 2024 election cycle. The New York Times has developed a Retirement Tracker that currently shows 22 Democrats and 11 Republicans who are in Congress now will not be seeking re-election next year.

“Dozens of members of Congress have announced plans to leave their seats in the House of Representatives, setting a rapid pace for congressional departures, with more expected as the 2024 election draws closer,” the NY Times reports. “Given Republicans’ razor-thin House majority, the wave of exits has the potential to lead to a significant shake-up next year.”

You can find the tracker here.

2. Texas, Daily Wire, The Federalist sue U.S. State Department over media censorship

The U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center has come under fire as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton along with The Daily Wire and The Federalist have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the department funded technology that could “render disfavored press outlets unprofitable.” They claim that the department has helped social media – Facebook, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) – to censor free speech while funding technologies used to censor right-leaning news outlets such as theirs.

New Civil Liberties Alliance is representing The Daily Wire and The Federalist. Paxton and the outlets claim the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British think tank, received a $100,000 grant from the State Department in 2021, and NewsGuard, which rates the “misinformation” levels of news outlets, received $25,000 from the State Department in 2020, according to the lawsuit.

According to the State Department’s website, the Global Engagement Center’s mission is to direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations.

As reported by Reuters, the lawsuit cited a GDI-produced list from December 2022 that ranked The Daily Wire and The Federalist as among the 10 “riskiest sites” for news while the least-risky included The New York Times, Associated Press and NPR. Reuters notes that the lawsuit alleges such “blacklists” are reducing revenues to The Daily Wire and The Federalist along with their visibility on social media and ranking results from browser searches.

Sports & Entertainment

1. SEC releases 2024 schedules

Wednesday evening, the Southeastern Conference released the 2024 football schedules for its member schools, including of interest in the Magnolia State the schedules for Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

It is the first schedule that includes new conference members University of Oklahoma and University of Texas, bringing the conference to 16 schools. Each SEC team will play eight conference football games plus at least one required opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 or major independent, each team will have two open dates.

The 2024 season will be the first year the SEC will play a schedule without divisional competition since 1991. The top two teams in the league standings based on winning percentage will play in the 33rd SEC Football Championship Game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, December 7.

2. White, Jesiolowski, Jones honored by MAIS

The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) in Mississippi, comprised of non-public schools, announced this week that Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s senior quarterback John White was named the 6A Player of the Year while Hartfield’s Reed Jesiolowski and Hartfield Chris Jones were named the MAIS 6A Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively.

All three have committed to play college football at the University of Mississippi.

White is Mississippi’s all-time leader in career passing yards with 15,259 yards, a record he broke during the 2023 season.

MAIS, like the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) for public schools, is broken down into classifications, from 1A to 6A. However, MHSAA added a 7A this season.

Markets & Business

1. Consumer retail sales up as energy, gas prices move down

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in November after being unchanged in October. Retail sales rose 0.3% in November after rising 0.2% in October, meaning consumers continue to spend at the start of the holiday season.

The CPI or inflation rate is 3.1%, higher than the Federal Reserve target of 2% but below the 9% peak in 2022 which reached a 40-year high.

As for the energy index, BLS reported that it fell 2.3% in November after decreasing 2.5% in October. The gasoline index decreased 6% in November, following a 5% decrease in the previous month.

The index for fuel oil fell in November, decreasing 2.7%. However, the natural gas index rose 2.8% over the month after rising 1.2% the previous month. The index for electricity also rose 1.4% in November, after increasing 0.3% in October.

The energy index fell 5.4% over the past 12 months. The gasoline index decreased 8.9%, the natural gas index declined 10.4%, and the fuel oil index fell 24.8% over this 12-month span.

2. Week’s market rally continues into Friday

At close of trading on Thursday, the U.S. markets continued the week’s rally, pushing the Dow up 158 points to 37,248 while the Nasdaq and S&P also made gains, 27 points and 12 points, respectively, to close at 14,761 and 4,719.

The record high for the Dow on Thursday moved futures up 102 points.

According to CNBC, the major averages are headed for their seventh straight positive week. As of Thursday, the Dow is higher on the week by 2.8%. The S&P 500 is up by 2.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.5% this week.

Stocks rallied after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged this week while members look towards cuts in the new year and beyond.

The post Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023 appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

By: Magnolia Tribune
Title: Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/12/15/magnolia-mornings-december-15-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=magnolia-mornings-december-15-2023
Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Magnolia Tribune

New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off

Published

12 months ago

December 15, 2023

Staff Editor

Interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin said this week that only about 59% of the City of Jackson’s water customers are paying their bills.

JXN Water has announced new rates and fees coming in 2024. Those who are not paying will be at risk of shut offs.

The company, which was established by federal appointed interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin, has been overseeing the city’s water system for the better part of a year.

Officials estimated that the average cost for water in the city was $76 per month for residents. Henifin clarified that JXN water will not attempt to recoup any charges prior to November 29, 2022, and will work with those who have failed to pay since that time.

He said only about 59 percent of the city’s water customers are paying their bills.

“You can’t forgive bills, so we have to be creative in how we part that,” said Henifin in reference to Mississippi’s laws that prevent giving away water.

According to a release by JXN Water announcing the rate changes, residents in single family households with small meters that use up to 748 gallons daily would see a bill increase of roughly .30 cents per day. Research indicates that the average U.S. family uses 300 gallons per day.

SNAP customers will have a new rate tier that could lower their bill by up to .69 cents per day, on average.

“Those who need to save the most benefit from saving money by drinking tap water. This new rate structure makes water affordability possible for 12,500 JXN Water customers who receive SNAP benefits,” said Henifin in the release.