This is an aerial view of of the City of Jackson's O.B. Curtis Water Plant, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
- “We are committed to ensuring that any system we are responsible for comes with a majority of votes for the City of Jackson, a majority of the customers and ratepayers,” said Mayor John Horhn.
The Senate Energy Committee advanced a bill to reform the beleaguered Jackson water system even as capital city leadership has fought parts of the measure.
Committee Chairman State Senator Joel Carter (R) was frank with city leaders during the Tuesday meeting to discuss the Metro Jackson Water Authority Act, HB 1677.
“We’re at a position now where the [Jackson] City Council has two options: One is bankruptcy, and the other is they can work with us to pass this bill,” Carter said, noting he was born in Jackson in 1978.
“We are not a third-world country. Everyone deserves clean drinking water,” he said.
The measure outlines how the Legislature believes it can turn on the taps to the profitability of JXN Water, which went into federal receivership in November 2022. The most controversial sections of the bill center around creating a water authority and who will serve on the board.
“The authority shall be a body corporate and politic constituting a public benefit corporation. The authority will be composed of geographic areas receiving water and wastewater services from the city as of January 1, 2026, for the planning, acquisition, construction, maintenance, operation, and coordination of water and wastewater systems in order to ensure the delivery of water and wastewater services to citizens,” the bill states.
The authority board would include members appointed by various governing bodies who must live or work in the Jackson Water Service area. The board will include the Mayor of Jackson, two appointees from the from the Governor and Lt. Governor, the President of the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce, and one representative from the cities of Byrum and Ridgeland approved by Jackson’s Mayor and City Council, along with two at-large members from Jackson.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn (D) said as a former State Senator he is aware that the legislative process is not fast, but he remains “optimistic” that the bill will help Jacksonians.
“While we have serious concerns with certain provisions, we will continue to advocate for a water authority in which Jackson holds a majority of the seats. We are committed to working through the process to achieve a final measure that the City of Jackson can live with, and that is mutually beneficial to everyone,” he said.
Horhn said that because Jackson owns the water and sewer assets and will remain partly responsible for the system’s debt if the system cannot sustain itself, Jackson should hold a majority on the governing board.
“We are committed to ensuring that any system we are responsible for comes with a majority of votes for the City of Jackson, a majority of the customers and ratepayers,” he said.
The bill also outlines that the State is not responsible for the water system’s debt.
Senator Carter did note that, “People not paying their bills, the water needs to be cut off. You cannot sustain a water authority without people paying their bills.”
The bill passed the House in early February by a vote of 100 to 13.
