Connect with us

Magnolia Tribune

Hosemann challenges McDaniel campaign’s finance filings

Published

2 years ago

on

The incumbent Lt. Governor’s re-election team seeks an Ethics Commission investigation into his Republican Primary opponent’s campaign finance filings. The State Senator says his campaign has done everything it was supposed to do.

On May 10th, candidates for office this year were required to file campaign finance reports for the period running from January 1st to April 30th. Considerable questions have been raised by incumbent Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s campaign, and an associated super-PAC, over the filings of one of his Republican challengers, State Senator Chris McDaniel.

Over the last several months, dating back to McDaniel’s end of year report for 2022, Hosemann has raised the concern over whether his main primary opponent’s campaign finance filings are improper, or even illegal.

McDaniel’s campaign has largely dismissed the accusations as being politically motivated.

Below is an account of the challenges that have been raised against McDaniel’s reporting, independent analysis of his campaign finance filings, and a review of Hosemann’s request for investigation by the Ethics Commission.

Completeness of Report

The most recent batch of concerns started with the incompleteness of McDaniel’s May 10th filing. Campaign finance reports customarily include a cover sheet that shows totals for the amount received, the amount spent, and cash-on-hand (the amount left to spend). They also customarily include a list of itemized receipts and expenditures.

The May 10th Report initially reflected on the Secretary of State’s website for McDaniel included only the cover sheet portion. Both members of the media and Hosemann quickly highlighted the deficiency and raise questions more generally about the accuracy of past reports.

“Standing for election integrity includes following campaign finance laws, which require basic reporting of contributions, expenditures, and cash on hand,” Hosemann tweeted on May 11th. “We are asking for enforcement of these laws. If Chris McDaniel can’t get this simple paperwork done, he won’t be able to manage a $7 billion budget.”

On May 12th, the Secretary of State’s office issued a statement saying it had experienced a sudden outage on its primary web server that caused only a portion of McDaniel’s complete report to show on the office’s website – essentially that McDaniel had filed the full report on time:

“We filed a report on time, we filed a complete report, but the Secretary of State’s website was down, it was crashed,” McDaniel told television station WDAM. “He [the Secretary of State] issued a statement explaining that to the whole state. The press reported on it. Delbert Hosemann is still slandering me.”

Hold the Line PAC

Hosemann’s complaints against McDaniel have not been limited to the initial completeness of the May 10th report, however. The Lt. Governor previously raised concerns about two PAC contributions totaling $465,000 from “Hold the Line PAC,” which McDaniel returned to the PAC after questions were raised about the legality of accepting the contribution.

Hold the Line PAC received the funds it ultimately transferred to McDaniel’s campaign from a non-profit corporation. Hosemann’s campaign contends that this movement of funds–from a non-profit to a PAC to McDaniel–was an impermissible attempt to circumvent Mississippi’s $1,000 corporate limit for contributions to a candidate.

In a letter to Secretary of State Michael Watson dated March 2, 2023, the Hosemann campaign argued both that the contribution from Hold the Line PAC violated the $1,000 corporate giving limit and that the PAC had also failed to timely register with the Secretary of State.

Watson announced that he had turned the matter over to Attorney General Lynn Fitch, citing a lack of investigative authority under Mississippi law. Fitch’s office has been largely mum on the issue, other than to say they are reviewing the claims.

McDaniel told WDAM that his campaign “sent that money back just to avoid a protracted fight.” He continued by saying, “We sent it back, and we showed on the document we sent it back. We did everything in the light of day.”

McDaniel’s campaign previously argued that recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings would have permitted the campaign’s acceptance of the funds from the Hold the Line PAC, but that they thought a legal battle would be an unnecessary distraction from the campaign.

“We chose to do right by Mississippi voters and end the nonsense through closing the PAC, refunding donations Delbert took ‘issue’ with, and refocusing the conversation around the issues that Mississippians care most about,” McDaniel spokesperson Nicole Tardif said.

The May 10th Report shows that the funds were returned to Hold the Line PAC on February 6th. The Hold the Line PAC termination was filed with the Secretary of State’s office on April 17th.

Double Reporting

One apparent error, both with respect to the 2022 End of Year Report and the May 10th Report, is that McDaniel is counting money received all the way up to the filing deadline for the report instead of only counting what was received during the period that is being reported.

The 2022 Report was due on January 31, 2023, but should only include contributions through December 31, 2022. The May 10th Report was due on that date, but should only include contributions made between January 1st and April 30th.

Because he included contributions up to the date of the filing deadline of January 31st, the 2022 Report listed $601,523.43 in itemized contributions that were actually made in January of 2023 and should not have been included. Those January funds belonged in the May 10th Report.

Most of the January itemized contributions improperly included in the 2022 Report were appropriately included in the May 10th Report ($597,023.43). $4,500 of the January contributions reported in the 2022 Report were excluded from the May 10th Report.

But the May 10th Report also included $9,800 in total contributions collected in early May that should not have been included. The result of the underreporting of previously identified January contributions, while improperly including early May contributions, is net overreporting of $5,300 for the January 1st through April 30th period.

The Fundraising Tally

The Hosemann campaign has also raised question on whether the Hold the Line PAC contribution should have been listed at all, since those funds were ultimately returned. Hosemann might understandably view the inclusion of the returned funds as a way for McDaniel to inflate the perception of his fundraising haul.

On the flip side, it’s not hard to imagine that McDaniel would have come under criticism for not showing the initial contribution from, and the eventual disbursement back to, the Hold the Line PAC in making a full accounting of campaign finances.

If one excludes the Hold the Line PAC contribution, removes the early May contributions, and includes the omitted January itemized contributions that had previously been reported in the 2022 Report, McDaniel raised $207,475.77 between January 1st and April 30th.

In the same period, Hosemann reported a total of $192,836.41 in contributions, giving McDaniel an approximate $15,000 edge in fundraising between the beginning of January and the close of April. Obviously, the period advantage for McDaniel is much larger, ballooning to almost half a million, if the reported Hold the Line PAC contribution that was later returned is counted.

Spokesperson Nicole Tardif said the McDaniel campaign is pleased with where they are financially at this point.

“The McDaniel campaign is running for Mississippians and is proudly powered by Mississippians,” Tardif explained. “Our most recent report highlights the incredible generosity from hundreds of hardworking Mississippians who have financially contributed and ensured we were able to outraise and outpace a sitting incumbent.” 

But the amount raised in any period can be misleading on the financial health of a campaign, even if there are no discrepancies. In this instance, Hosemann started with a sizable war chest prior to the January 1st through April 30th period.

As a result, Hosemann leads considerably when it comes to cash-on-hand. The current Lt. Governor reported over $3.3 million in cash-on-hand. That’s basically an order of magnitude above McDaniel’s reported cash-on-hand of nearly $336,000.

Hosemann told the Magnolia Tribune, “We will be in a very strong position to disseminate our message to voters—and we are grateful for the support we have received. Contrary to our opponent, we also are committed to transparency. Voters will continue be able to see plainly who contributed to us and how our funds were spent because that is the law.”

Challenge to McDaniel’s Campaign Committee

Hosemann’s campaign sent a second letter on May 11, 2023. This one was addressed to the Mississippi Ethics Commission. The letter asked for an investigation of whether McDaniel was in violation of Mississippi law which requires a campaign committee to file a statement of organization within 48 hours of receiving or spending $200 or more.

It points to three separate campaign committee names used by the McDaniel campaign in fundraising literature that it indicates have not been registered with the Secretary of State: (1) Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel; (2) Chris McDaniel for Lieutenant Governor; and (3) Friends of Chris McDaniel.

A pro-Hosemann super PAC, True Conservatives Mississippi PAC, issued a press release this week suggesting that McDaniel could be subject to up to $400,000 in fines for filing his May 10th report under “Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel.” The calculation was based on a maximum fine of $5,000 for taking a contribution pf $200 or more without filing a statement of organization within 48-hours of receiving the donation, times 80 individual gifts over $200 included on the May 10th Report.

The May 10th report was filed under “Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel.” The Secretary of State’s Office has said that no statement of organization had ever been filed for that committee.

The May 10th report is currently the only filing under “Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel” on the Secretary of State’s website. Previous reports, including the 2022 end of year report, were filed simply under “Chris McDaniel.”

McDaniel’s campaign has claimed that it did file a statement of organization for the “Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel” back in 2006, that the statement of organization was needed to open a bank account that has received contributions to McDaniel’s state political campaigns over the last 17 years, and that the EIN for the committee was obtained under “Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel.”

McDaniel spokesperson Nicole Tardif told Magnolia Tribune that previous filings had been short-handed as “Chris McDaniel” by a past treasurer, and that those filings were hand delivered, leading the Secretary of State’s Office to upload them under the committee name of just “Chris McDaniel.”

Tardif said that “Chris McDaniel for Lieutenant Governor” was never a committee name and “was never used for the solicitation of funds.” She indicated that the email which included the phrase “Chris McDaniel for Lieutenant Governor” did so to generically describe the campaign and noted that the same email said, “Paid for by the Committee to Elect Chris McDaniel.”

On a raffle ticket for a Thompson sub-machine gun that included a picture of McDaniel and the phrase “Friends of Chris McDaniel,” Tardif said that the raffle was not commissioned by the campaign, but was done independently by an activist who supports McDaniel.

The allegations against McDaniel’s reports comes against a backdrop of a 2014 bid for the U.S. Senate that included several controversies.

#####

Editor’s Note: Delbert Hosemann’s attorney, Spencer Ritchie, is a board member of Magnolia Tribune Institute. By recorded bylaws, board members exercise no editorial control. The documents embedded were not provided by Ritchie or his firm, but were received as part of a request made to the Ethics Commission.

The post Hosemann challenges McDaniel campaign’s finance filings appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

Read More

By: Frank Corder
Title: Hosemann challenges McDaniel campaign’s finance filings
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/05/19/hosemann-challenges-mcdaniel-campaigns-finance-filings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hosemann-challenges-mcdaniel-campaigns-finance-filings
Published Date: Fri, 19 May 2023 19:53:06 +0000

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Magnolia Tribune

Staring mortality in the face at Christmas

Published

11 months ago

on

December 16, 2023

By

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.

…

Read More

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

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/magnolia-mornings-december-15-2023/

Continue Reading

Magnolia Tribune

Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023

Published

11 months ago

on

December 15, 2023

By

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

Laurin St. Pe

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

John White

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.

…

Read More

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

Continue Reading

Magnolia Tribune

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

Published

11 months ago

on

December 15, 2023

By

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.

Read more about the anticipated rate changes here.

New fees will also be implemented, including a new service fee of $50, service deposit of $100, returned check fee of $25, service restoration fee of $100, and meter tampering charge of $500. 

JXN Water has continued to encourage residents to use the water, with Henifin going on the record in a federal status hearing saying that the water “was safe to drink.”

More conversation regarding the billing process is expected to come at next week’s Jackson City Council meeting.

The post New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

…

Read More

By: Sarah Ulmer
Title: New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/12/15/new-water-rates-expected-in-jackson-come-2024-those-who-dont-pay-face-shut-off/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-water-rates-expected-in-jackson-come-2024-those-who-dont-pay-face-shut-off
Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Continue Reading

Trending