Connect with us

Mississippi Today

‘There’s a hunger to see if we can pull this off’: Henifin talks next steps for funding Jackson water

Published

2 years ago

on

‘There’s a hunger to see if we can pull this off’: Henifin talks next steps for funding Jackson water

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
January 27, 2023

Jackson water head Ted Henifin said Friday he would recommend to extend federal oversight of the city’s water system to five years, allowing his team to make the necessary infrastructure improvements using recently allocated federal funds.

During a press conference where he discussed his financial proposal for future funding of the city’s water system, Henifin also said a bill now before the Legislature may put a roadblock in the way of his planned changes to the water billing system.

Henifin emphasized that Jackson’s infrastructure is still in a place where the system could “fail tomorrow,” but that the roughly $800 million coming to Jackson will be enough to address the city’s issues as long as it can have a stable revenue plan moving forward.

“I’d say, yes, the (roughly) $1 billion is enough, once we’re on a good foundation moving forward,” he said.

His press conference Friday came hours after submitting a financial proposal to a federal judge. Henifin will spend the next few months receiving feedback from the public, with the goal of having a new revenue model to fund the water system in place on Oct. 1.

It also comes at the end of week where bills that would affect his billing plans and wrest control of the water system were making their way through the Legislature.

New state bill could thwart changes to billing model

Henifin acknowledged Friday that he’s proposing a billing structure for residents based on customer’s property value rather than how much water a customer consumes, an idea aimed at restoring trust in the billing system and keeping rates affordable.

He explained that the median single family household would pay about $50 a month for water and sewer, similar to what that home would be paying now. In another example he gave, someone with a $100,000-valued property would be paying about $100 a month.

Bills would be capped at $150 a month for residential properties, he said, and at $600 for commercial properties.

As far as he knew, the only other utility in the country with such a model is Milwaukee with its wastewater system. He added that cities across the nation are looking to revamp their billing structures because traditional systems are making services unaffordable for poorer residents. Those places, he explained, will be paying close attention to how such a change would work in Jackson.

“There’s going to be a big hunger to see if we can pull this off and find a better way to do it,” Henifin said.

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (left) and water system’s third-party administrator Ted Henifin, answer questions regarding the current state of the city’s water system during a town hall meeting held at Forest Hill High School, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022.

While some water policy experts believe bills should have some connection to residents’ consumption to not strain a city’s infrastructure, Henifin said the city is losing so much water as it is — 25 million to 30 million gallons a day, or at least half of the 50 million gallons a day the city can produce — that consumption isn’t a concern.

“There’s no amount of conservation that our residents could do to make up for the amount we’re losing,” he said. “If (Jacksonians) decide to run their sprinklers all day and take half hour showers every morning, it’s not going to make a difference compared to the mountain of water we’re losing.”

Per the recommendation of the state Health Department, Jackson has placed residents under a water conservation advisory since last summer.

The bigger concern, Henifin explained, is making sure the city has reliable revenue through its billing system, which has been plagued for years by faulty metering. That money, along with the recent federal funds, will go to upgrade the fragile water lines that are causing the city to lose so much of its water.

He added that a new hydraulic model for the city, which is near completion, will help show where the city’s leaks are. Because the city doesn’t have a model, “we’ve got little knowledge of what happens” when water leaves the two treatment plants, he said.

But changes to the city’s billing could be put on hold if state lawmakers have their way. On Thursday, the Senate approved a bill that would require cities to charge customers for water based on their consumption.

While the U.S. Department of Justice order appointing Henifin gave him broad authority, he clarified that it doesn’t allow him to violate state law, and that if the he bill is signed by Gov. Tate Reeves he may have to reconsider the plan.

When asked what it would mean for ratepayers if the city sticks to a consumption-based system, he said rates would have to go up 50% to generate the necessary revenue for the city. He added that some homes would see an increase in their bills with his proposal as well.

Motorists line up along Northside Drive for a water give-a-way at the Food Depot grocery store in Jackson on Feb. 19, 2021.

Bill that would shrink Jackson’s control

Henifin was also asked about another bill, which passed through a Senate committee on Tuesday, that would create a nine-member board to oversee Jackson’s water system when the DOJ lifts its current order; five of the appointments would be made by the governor and lieutenant governor, and just four would come from the Jackson’s mayor, effectively removing control from the city’s leadership.

The bill would also require the board to consult with the mayors of Byram and Ridgeland, despite the latter having sparse property that’s served by Jackson water.

Henifin in an interview with WLBT on Wednesday called the plan a “pure grab for money”.

Part of the DOJ order gives Henifin the ability to recommend how Jackson manages the water system moving forward. While not directly addressing the Senate proposal, Henifin said he’ll recommend that the DOJ extend its oversight of the water system to five years, giving his team enough time to spend the new federal funding.

He added that one option that he thinks “may have some merit” is creating a board-led nonprofit that could procure contracts more quickly than what is allowed for a municipal government.

Climbing out of debt

Henifin began Friday’s briefing discussing Jackson’s debt. With a poor credit rating and no cash on hand, the city would struggle to borrow any money for its water system as things stand today, he explained. Right now, the city is having to pay back $23 million a year towards its debt.

The goal, he said, is to get Jackson to a point where it can borrow money if it needs to. To do that, Henifin said he’s planning to spend $290 million of the $450 million provided by Congress for capital improvements to eliminate the city’s debt.

He said that doing so will still leave enough money to make the necessary infrastructure upgrades, especially when factoring in the city’s projected revenue that would come with his financial proposal.

“In five years, we’d be generating $20 million a year in capital improvement money that could go back into our system year after year after year,” Henifin said. “And the rates will be affordable across the population in Jackson. So I don’t think we can hit a bigger home run than that.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=205534

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

Published

14 hours ago

on

December 22, 2024

By

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. 

In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.” 

He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.” 

The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

Published

15 hours ago

on

December 22, 2024

By

mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.

The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.

Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.

During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.

“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”

White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.

Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.

White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.

Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.

People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.

White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.

They are correct.

But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.

Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.

That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.

Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?

If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.

The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.

In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1911

Published

2 days ago

on

December 21, 2024

By

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. 

When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs. 

He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame. 

The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays. 

Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Trending