JACKSON, Miss.—Jackson residents could see a nearly 12% rate increase on their water bills as early as June to make up for dwindling federal funds, JXN Water Interim Third Party Manager Ted Henefin says.
The average customer’s bills could go up close to $9 a month on average.
Henifin spoke in front of the Jackson City Council on Tuesday during their regular meeting at City Hall, proposing that the rate hike is necessary to cover the day-to-day operating costs of the City’s water system and to continue paying down the City’s water bill debt.
The federal funding that Congress allocated for the City of Jackson to stabilize its water infrastructure, bring it into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and rebuild it for future operations will run out this month, Henifin explained.
“The reason I’m here today in front of you is the longstanding history of underfunding water and sewage here in the City of Jackson,” he said. “We’re coming to request enough money to keep sewage off the streets and keep water available for everyone all the time.”
Under the federal stipulated order, Henifin can raise the water rates without approval from the Jackson City Council, but they did provide feedback on the proposal.
Raising Utility Rates as the Population Shrinks
Cities with comparable social-economic backgrounds and population sizes as Jackson were once hoisted up by EPA grants until the Reagan era, but now commonly raise utility rates to cover the costs of day-to-day operations.
Karl Fingerhood, an attorney with the EPA, told Judge Henry T. Wingate in 2023 that the City of Jackson had failed to raise revenue to cover the costs of maintaining water and sewer infrastructure.
“I’m not an engineer, but I would say my own view of what I’ve observed is that I think, not unlike the drinking water situation, there was underinvestment in the system, lack of routine maintenance activities, and also financial constraints on the City as far as being able to pay for the work that was necessary to comply with the consent decree,” Fingerhood said.
Then-city councilman Melvin Priester Jr. voiced that concern to Mississippi Today in 2016. “We are a city with very high levels of poverty, and it’s difficult for us to raise the rates enough to do large-scale replacement-type projects and not make it unaffordable to live in the city of Jackson,” he said.
Congress allocated $600 million–part of a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill–to the capital city in 2022 after Jackson’s water infrastructure collapsed and residents were forced to grapple with back-to-back crises and left without clean drinking water. They approved the funding in two parts: $150 million to stabilize, rebuild and sustain operations and another $450 million strictly for capital projects like winterizing the system.
Outside of the federal omnibus bill, JXN Water received roughly $195 million more from other sources to use on both water and sewer. However, Congress approved but has yet to appropriate, or give out, a significant portion of that money to the agency, JXN Water Communications Strategist Aisha Carson told the Mississippi Free Press on April 11.
Even when those funds are appropriated, they can only be used on infrastructure projects supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Carson explained. “The misconception is, if we have money, why are we raising rates? But the money we have has to be allocated appropriately or we risk being out of compliance,” she said.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba was one of several Mississippi officials to lobby members of Congress to help secure the funding. Although Henefin and Lumumba initially presented a united front during JXN Water’s inception, their relationship has grown strained as the mayor continues to voice concerns about the safety of the city’s drinking water, the future management of the system and how the company has spent the federal funding.
Henifin, who makes $400,000 a year in his position, told reporters on Tuesday that the company has invested $1.5 million in advertising—including local TV commercials and mailing information pamphlets to customers. He said it is necessary to rebuild residents’ trust in the system.
This is the second time in just over a year that Henifin raised the water utility rate. He started implementing a fixed $40 water availability fee for all customers regardless of their water usage in 2024, justifying the additional fee by saying it was necessary to cover operational costs.
On April 8, Ward 1 City Councilman Ashby Foote suggested that Henifin focus first on collecting payments from those customers who are still receiving water without properly paying for it. “We’re going to increase the rates on people who are playing by the rules,” Foote said, adding that the decision might spur more people to move to the surrounding suburbs.
Jackson’s population shrank by at least 20,000 people from 2010 to 2020, U.S. Census data shows.
The City of Jackson has struggled for years to tackle inaccurate water billing and off-grid water hookups. “The revenue lost from water theft hampers the City’s ability to adequately repair water leaks, replace old pipes and hire additional staff to provide timely customer service. When people steal water service, they are stealing from everyone because theft of service contributes to increased rates and fees,” reporter Anna Wolfe wrote for the Clarion Ledger in March 2016, quoting a City of Jackson statement.
‘Failed To Properly Raise These Rates’
Ward 6 City Councilman Aaron Banks suggested that JXN Water trim its spending rather than raise rates on customers.
“It seems that the only way–at this time–JXN Water is looking to balance its books is to just charge more. I don’t see where there is even an attempt to balance the books by reducing costs or even going by the lowest and best bidding when it comes to Jacobs Engineering,” Banks said.
Jacobs Engineering is the contractor Henifin chose to manage the operation and maintenance of the capital city’s water treatment plants for the next 10 years.
Banks’ criticism is one that Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba raised during a press conference at City Hall following Henifin’s presentation on April 8. Typically, the mayor said, utility companies “raise rates incrementally over time.”
He went on to note, however, that the City of Jackson had “failed to properly raise these rates over the last 30 years.”
The last water utility rate increase that the City of Jackson implemented before the federal government appointed a third-party manager to lead operations was in 2021. Then-City Engineer Dr. Charles Williams told WJTV “We have to understand that we have to treat water and the ability for us to treat water means that we have to have plants that are operating at high efficiency…That costs money.”
‘Transparency Is Critical’
On Tuesday, current members of the Jackson City Council cautioned Henifin that raising water utility rates right now—particularly amid federal chaos that could result in an economic downturn—would harm residents who are already financially strapped.
“A lot of our residents are on a fixed income,” Grizzell said.
Nearly 27% of Jackson residents live in poverty, according to census data, with the median household income just over $43,200.
Daniel LaPatrick Walker, a former City of Jackson water treatment engineer, echoed that sentiment to the Mississippi Free Press on April 9.
“While I understand the importance of covering operational and maintenance costs, I believe the public deserves a clear, data-driven explanation of how these new rates were determined. Transparency is critical—not only in how the water system is managed, but also in how billing decisions are made and communicated to the community,” Walker said.
In 2023, Henifin suggested a three-tier bill rate system as a tactic to allow SNAP recipients to get some relief from their water bills. He touted the idea as “a great opportunity to really change the dialogue around water and sewer in the city of Jackson.”
It would curb the costs of bottled water, which many Americans and particularly Jacksonians purchase because of longstanding mistrust of the water coming out of their taps, Henifin said when explaining that proposal.
Judge Wingate ordered the release of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data in 2024, but the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Mississippi blocked that proposal, saying that it would mean JXN Water would need access to citizens’ private information.
He also previously proposed basing water bills on property values, a suggestion that Gov. Tate Reeves nullified when he signed House Bill 698 into law, which mandated that “the calculation of an inhabitant’s bill shall be limited to the actual amount of usage.”
Henifin Petitioning Congress To Re-Allocate Funds
Beyond raising rates, Henifin told reporters at a press conference on April 8 that he planned to travel to Washington, D.C. to speak with members of Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency about allowing JXN Water to use some of the $450 million in federal funds the government designated for capital projects towards daily operations instead.
He hopes that Congress will give him flexibility with how to use the capital projects funding. “The question is, does it have to go back to Congress and have them amend that—that is probably way out of the realm of possibilities—or can the EPA administratively make that change? That’s what I’m pursuing when I go to (Washington) D.C.,” Henifin said.
When Congress first appropriated the funds, Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress and Joe Biden was president; now, Republicans control both chambers and Donald Trump is president. Trump has also slashed federal EPA funding and replaced the Biden-era EPA officials who assisted Jackson during the worst days of the water crisis with new leaders who have rolled back environmental protections.
Last year, a former EPA official shared concerns with the Mississippi Free Press that a new Trump administration could hamper oversight of the Jackson water system. So far, cuts at the EPA have not affected ongoing efforts to repair Jackson’s water system.