JXN Water proposed raising our water bills yet again, but this time, the Jackson City Council did the right thing by voting unanimously against it. While it’s heartening to see elected officials standing with residents on this issue, we also recognize that it’s easy to oppose something as unpopular as increasing water rates, especially in a city where families are already hauling bottled water, boiling tap water and stretching grocery money to cover utilities. What’s harder—and what we genuinely need—is for our officials to actively safeguard local, public ownership of our water infrastructure.
The truth is that the council vote is largely symbolic. Under the 2022 Interim Stipulated Order in the federal litigation over Jackson’s drinking-water system, control of the system sits exclusively with Ted Henifin, the court-appointed Interim Third Party Manager. That order grants him unilateral power to impose higher rates without council approval or public input.
Unless the federal court modifies this arrangement, Henefin can raise our bills every year if he wants to, no matter what our elected representatives say. Residents will also remain shut out from the data needed to evaluate whether these hikes are necessary. That is why we need solutions that put power and decision-making authority in the hands of Jackson residents, especially those most affected by these rate hikes.
We Believe in Our Communities
There are those who would have us believe that water infrastructure should be left to a few select engineers and the corporations that profit from our resources. They want us to accept that we don’t have a right to a say in what happens to our resources. This way of thinking is flawed. It is simply poor design and mismanagement to keep trying to build systems without the people who use them.
Our experiences as parents, caretakers, business owners and consumers give us important insight into water infrastructure and how the system should be structured to meet our needs. It is exhausting to have to fight for basic human rights like water here in Jackson, but we know that fighting is the only way to make sure our needs are met and to guarantee we have a seat at the decision-making table. That is why People’s Advocacy Institute and the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign—with our amazing pro bono legal team of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Forward Justice, and the ACLU of Mississippi—petitioned for and won the right to intervene in the lawsuit that created JXN Water.
Jackson residents need and deserve to participate in this process. Yet even with intervenor status, access to information and participation in the process has been a challenge.
Why We Are Returning to Court
When the court issued its ruling appointing Henefin in November 2022, Jackson was under federal and state emergency declarations. As a result, the order granted extraordinary powers, which included waiving Mississippi’s open records and competitive bidding laws, allowing federal dollars to be spent with minimal oversight and permitting unilateral rate increases. Now, more than two and a half years later, the emergency has long since dissipated, yet the secrecy and unchecked authority remain.
Our legal team filed a motion to amend the Interim Stipulated Order last week. We’re asking that the Interim Stipulated Order be amended so the Interim Third Party Manager has to follow Mississippi’s open records and competitive bidding laws like every other public entity.
The motion also asks the judge to ensure that the Interim Third Party Manager establishes a firm transitional plan to return water system control back to Jackson officials, where it belongs. The bottom line is that we need these protections for our low-income neighbors, and we all deserve clear, accessible information about what’s happening with our water system.
How Residents Can Help Fight Back
Now is the time to ramp up the pressure and ensure that as residents, we take advantage of every public forum, engage local media and contact our local council members to both block the rate increase and demand JXN Water change course.
We must demand that every federal dollar flowing through JXN Water is tracked, audited and posted online for all to see. Rate-justice is impossible without full transparency.
We need to state plainly that our water system must remain publicly owned and locally governed, and push state officials to invest rather than interfere. Anything less invites the same political forces that starved our infrastructure in the first place.
For far too long, we have paid with both our wallets and our health while decisions happened behind closed doors. The council’s vote cracked that door open; it’s up to us to walk in and ensure that nothing about us happens without us.
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