Mississippi
Lawmakers Attempting Takeover of Funds for Jackson’s Water System, Federal Manager Warns
![Lawmakers Attempting Takeover of Funds for Jackson’s Water System, Federal Manager Warns Lawmakers Attempting Takeover of Funds for Jackson’s Water System, Federal Manager Warns](https://www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/OB-Curtis_AP22246106272588_AP-Photo-Rogelio-V.-Solis-Pool.jpg)
This text was produced for ProPublica’s Native Reporting Community in partnership with Mississippi Free Press. Join Dispatches to get tales like this one as quickly as they’re printed.
JACKSON, Miss. — The freeze of early 2021 wasn’t the origin of the water system collapse in Jackson, Miss. However the winter storm launched the nation to Jackson’s getting old and improperly maintained pipes and water crops, which failed and left residents with out clear water for greater than a month.
The disaster surged again in the summertime of 2022, leaving residents with out clear water for 2 months and drawing comparisons to the lead-poisoning scandal in Flint, Mich., one other banner instance of America’s ruinous infrastructure programs. Right here, as in Flint, the federal authorities stepped in: In November, the Division of Justice appointed a federal supervisor to take management of the beleaguered utility, and fewer than a month later, Congress accredited $600 million completely for town’s water system.
However the rescue effort is already working up towards the realities of native politics, reflecting historic tensions between Jackson and the remainder of the state. For many years, state and metropolis leaders have clashed over who ought to management native spending, companies and infrastructure. Now, each the federal supervisor and town’s mayor are warning that state politicians are trying to take over Jackson’s water system, together with a whole bunch of thousands and thousands in federal funds meant for repairing it.
On the coronary heart of the feud is Senate Invoice 2889, launched in mid-January by a lawmaker who says his solely objective is to make sure the Mississippi capital’s water system is restored.
The laws would create a brand new regional water-authority board to supervise the system’s water, sewer and drainage programs. The governor and lieutenant governor would appoint a majority of the board. Through the years, state leaders together with the present governor, Tate Reeves, have expressed skepticism about whether or not Jackson is able to managing its personal affairs. Federal companies, together with the Justice Division and the Environmental Safety Company, have additionally questioned town’s administration of its water and wastewater programs.
The newest transfer within the Legislature worries the supervisor, Ted Henifin, who says a regional authority may permit enhancements and debt aid to circulation out of Jackson and into suburban utilities that be part of the entity. “I consider the $600+ million in federal funding has created a monster within the Mississippi Legislature,” Henifin advised the Mississippi Free Press and ProPublica in a written assertion final week. A federal decide appointed Henifin to the place of interim third-party supervisor in late November.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba constructed on Henifin’s critique Monday. “It’s a colonial energy taking up our metropolis. It’s plantation politics. I’ve not been shy within the ways in which I’ve referenced this,” he stated.
The mayor highlighted a litany of different proposed laws that collectively would give Mississippi authority over segments of Jackson’s police and court docket programs. He known as the legislative proposals a “unified assault” towards town’s autonomy.
“It jogs my memory of apartheid,” he stated. “They dictate our management, put a army pressure over us and we’re simply imagined to pay taxes to the king.”
The invoice’s sponsor, state Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Department, and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann of Jackson, whose workplace helped design the measure, strongly denied that makes an attempt to divert federal funds had been behind the laws. After the information organizations requested Parker about some critics’ considerations, he and Hosemann agreed that the state ought to recoup not one of the federal funds, and Parker pledged to introduce an modification that may explicitly prohibit using the funds outdoors Jackson’s metropolis limits.
Henifin was unmoved, saying he was involved that amendments might be overwritten later, and {that a} regional utility was the incorrect answer for Jackson in any case.
“We Want an Arbitrator”
If the Senate invoice turns into legislation, the Mississippi Capitol Area Utility Act would successfully give the state authority over Jackson’s water system as soon as the federal supervisor’s authority lapses.
That’s as a result of it will grant the governor energy to nominate three of the 9 members, and the lieutenant governor two, giving statewide leaders, who’re white, majority management over water, wastewater and stormwater utilities in Jackson, whose inhabitants is 82% Black. The mayor would get 4 appointments, together with one which he must choose in “session” with the mayor of close by Byram, now majority Black, and one other chosen with the mayor of Ridgeland, a demographically blended suburb. The board would then elect a president to formally lead the brand new regional utility.
In an interview, Henifin stated he believes Jackson’s system requires judicial and federal oversight to forestall the mismanagement of essential infrastructure funds, which he estimates would take years to correctly spend.
“I believe on the finish of the day we’d like an arbitrator, and I believe that’s a federal decide on this case.” He stated he believes this oversight ought to be prolonged to guard the federal {dollars}, estimating that 5 years of some type of oversight ought to be adequate to lock within the needed contracts and investments.
Henifin later stated that legislative interference may threaten efforts to obtain a contract to handle the water system’s essential staffing shortages as a result of the prospect of a change within the water utility’s management whereas a long-term contract continues to be being executed may scare off giant firms.
Though Parker and Hosemann had been complimentary of Henifin in interviews with the Mississippi Free Press, Henifin stated neither of the events concerned had ever consulted him. Certainly, he stated that Hosemann’s workplace rebuffed his try to arrange a gathering.
Hosemann acknowledged that he had not spoken with Henifin but however stated he supposed to “shortly.”
“I Wished to Be Very Sympathetic”
Parker stated that though he lives 200 miles from Jackson, he did expertise town’s water disaster firsthand.
“I’ve a daughter that I reside with in the course of the legislative session,” he stated. “I’ve spent quite a few instances strolling right down to the swimming pool and dipping water right into a cooler, taking it again as much as the bathroom to flush. We reside in an residence advanced that’s needed to put transportable amenities on the bottom ground to permit folks to go to the lavatory.”
“I wished to be very sympathetic and compassionate to the sentiments of the mayor and different individuals who have spent a very long time attempting to hunt solutions to this drawback,” Parker stated. “So in establishing a board that may be overseeing the water and sewer system, my thought was to offer the mayor 4 appointments on a nine-member board.”
Parker stated he believed the governor and lieutenant governor ought to appoint a majority of the board’s members as a result of Mississippi’s failure to “present the essential wants and companies that our folks deserve is mirrored 100% again on the governor and the folks on this constructing.”
![Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, speaks during debate](https://www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/David-Parker_AP22088733427448_AP-Photo-Rogelio-V.-Solis.jpg)
Parker stated he initially believed that residents in Ridgeland drew water from Jackson’s therapy plant. Although the ability itself is positioned in Ridgeland, bordering Jackson to the north, reporters advised Parker that Ridgeland doesn’t at present obtain water from Jackson’s water system; in addition they advised him that elements of Ridgeland could use Jackson’s higher sewage system. He then urged the invoice could have included that metropolis’s mayor in gentle of that truth.
He expressed shock over Henifin’s feedback and strongly denied any intent to divert cash away from Jackson.
“There isn’t a intent on my half to stack a board in any approach, form or kind that may give preferential therapy to the perimeter areas of the water authority,” he stated. “My hope can be that if nearly all of the water authority is inside the metropolis of Jackson, I might hope that the governor, lieutenant governor and mayor would put folks on the board from these geographic areas.”
Parker stated he intends to talk with Henifin as his invoice makes its approach by way of the Senate.
“Crafting one thing like that is an excessive problem,” he stated.
The invoice provides the encircling municipalities a path to hitch the brand new capital water authority, transferring their property and money owed to it, a standard function of regional utilities.
The information organizations requested Parker if any a part of SB 2889 prevented that regionalization from permitting federal funds to be dispersed to utilities outdoors Jackson. Parker stated he would look into that query. A day later, Hosemann stated he had agreed with Parker that they need to tackle any gaps that may permit cash to be spent outdoors of the authority itself.
“It Is Plantation Politics”
Mayor Lumumba stated the feud over spending the federal funds highlights the friction between the state’s majority-white leaders and the majority-Black capital metropolis.
“It’s plantation politics,” Lumumba stated. “It’s in keeping with this paternalistic relationship that the state of Mississippi believes that it maintains with town of Jackson.”
Lumumba in contrast it to the 1% Gross sales Tax Fee, a system the Legislature designed roughly a decade in the past to claim management over spending derived from a particular gross sales tax Jackson maintains to fund infrastructure tasks.
The mayor recognized different payments as a part of what he considers an assault on town’s proper to self-determination, together with payments to develop the Capitol Police’s territory. One other invoice would create an unbiased court docket system of unelected judges and prosecutors for that very same space. Lawmakers behind that invoice stated the laws was wanted to reply to an increase in crime charges.
“It’s all a unified assault,” Lumumba stated.
In a response to further inquiries, Hosemann’s Deputy Chief of Workers Leah Rupp Smith stated they defer to Parker on the laws however “share a need with all events to discover a long-term answer,” and she or he stated {that a} regional utility authority “has been viable in different elements of our state.” They stated they deliberate to satisfy with Henifin the week after subsequent.
Parker stated his conversations with the mayor have been “productive and congenial.” He added that they “share an curiosity in making certain all folks served by the programs have entry to protected and dependable water and wastewater companies at a good and affordable value.”
Lately, Lumumba has clashed repeatedly with Hosemann over Jackson’s autonomy. “The final time I met with him, he stated that I wanted to take a look at a attainable relationship with the State of Mississippi, as a result of ‘what did I believe, that Biden was gonna write me a examine?’”
“I just lately advised him I do, and he did,” the mayor stated of Biden.
Senior Reporter Kayode Crown contributed to this report.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Mississippi
How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff
![How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/09/03/PNAS/75060541007-usatsi-24129028.jpg?auto=webp&crop=5472,3078,x0,y0&format=pjpg&width=1200)
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football is preparing to play a team that, at least through one game, looks vastly improved from last season.
Coach Jeff Lebby admitted on Monday, and Bulldog players have noticed it too after Arizona State (1-0) thumped Wyoming 48-7 in its opener.
MSU (1-0) must also factor in the late kickoff that is scheduled Saturday (9:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Mississippi is hot, but so is Arizona — a different kind of hot, too.
Modifications and remedies are being made, such as the team leaving Starkville on Thursday instead of how it normally would on a Friday for a Saturday game.
“For our guys, just knowing exactly what we are getting into,” Lebby said. “We continue to talk about that through yesterday and this morning and (are) having those conversations to understand what it’s going to look like late in the week. We got to do a great job from a preparation standpoint of how we are hydrating, how we are eating and how we are resting to give us the ability to go on the road on this flight and be able to be at our best Saturday night.”
Just this week, Phoenix broke a record with its 100th straight day of 100-degree temperatures. According to AccuWeather, the high on Saturday in Tempe will be 107 degrees with a low of 86. The temperature should dip to around 91 near kickoff with a humidity of 24%.
“Coach Lebby has already been harping on that,” tight end Justin Ball said. “We’ve already been hydrating and making sure we are getting rest every single day. We leave on Thursday, so we already talked about the plan to make sure we are hydrating the entire plane ride there, making sure when we get there we get acclimated as quickly as you can and just staying together. Making sure we’re focused, make sure we keep the goal first and then execute the game plan.”
MORE: Jeff Lebby says Mississippi State football didn’t put on a good enough show. Here’s how he’s wrong
Mississippi State played well the last time it played in Arizona
The Bulldogs played Arizona in Tucson two seasons ago. They squandered a pedestrian Wildcats team 39-17. Kickoff for that game was at 8 p.m. PST though the temperature was 84 degrees at game time.
Not many players remain on Mississippi State’s roster from that 2022 season. But the ones who are, like linebacker Nic Mitchell, can benefit from the experience and also share it with teammates.
“We know it’s going to be a long flight, so we know we got to be hydrated,” Mitchell said. “It gives people experience that have done it before and they can tell the young guys how it’s going to be in the flight, how you got to hydrate and stuff like that.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi
Playing for Mississippi State not an option for Arizona State back Kyson ‘Sipp’ Brown
Arizona State forces 3 turnovers in win over Wyoming to start 2024
All offseason, coach Kenny Dillingham preached getting turnovers. Forty seconds into the season’s first game, the defense produced its first one.
Sophomore running back Kyson Brown is one of the faster players on the Arizona State football team. But Brown seems to have a little more pep in his step this week. Why? Well, the Sun Devils (1-0) are set to take on Mississippi State (1-0) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.
Sure an SEC opponent is enough to get any athlete fired up. But the 6-foot, 200-pounder hails from Tupelo, Mississippi, which is where he got his nickname, Sipp. Tupelo is 67 miles north of the Mississippi State campus in Starkville that Sipp has visited a handful of times.
“I have family, growing up they were all Mississipp State fans and some Ole Miss fans,” he said. “Some of my family are debating whether they want to cheer for me or not. It’s going to be good. A lot of hometown friends. Got a couple guys I went to high school with there. It’s going to be good seeing those guys and hopefully, we compete at a good level and get the W.”
Brown, a mechanical engineering major, is enrolled in ASU’s Barret honors program, He emerged as one of the team’s most improved players. He saw some time on special teams as a true freshman in 2023 and has set himself up for a bigger role, although the ASU backfield has a lot of depth.
In the last week’s 48-7 win over Wyoming, Brown pitched in with six rushing attempts for 25 yards and two receptions for 73 yards. His 68-yard touchdown reception was the longest play from scrimmage that ASU had on the night.
“It felt amazing just to get back in the end zone again,” Brown said. “You come out of high school, you know I’m used to being in the end zone every game, all the time. That play, I knew — once I made the first guy miss — I knew I wasn’t going to let anybody catch me.”
Brown lived in Mississippi until moving to Lancaster, Texas, outside of Dallas, after his sophomore year of high school. He sat out junior year after the transfer. As a senior he averaged 9.5 yards per carry, finishing with 707 yards and 11 touchdowns on 74 carries while adding 14 receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
Sitting out his junior year hurt his recruiting, but he still had notable offers from Purdue, Missouri and Houston. The balance of his options were lower-profile schools. Mississippi State didn’t offer.
He is happy with the end result. A place on the ASU football roster. In the offseason, he worked on his agility, flexibility and catching the ball, which was evident in his recent scoring play.
“We all have the big-play potential,” he said of his fellow running backs. “I feel my role is to make plays, wherever they put me be able to perform.”
Mississippi
Report shows Mississippi Legislature retirement reforms this year aren’t effective. See why
![Report shows Mississippi Legislature retirement reforms this year aren’t effective. See why Report shows Mississippi Legislature retirement reforms this year aren’t effective. See why](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/04/30/PJAM/73515915007-tcl-legislature-06.jpg?auto=webp&crop=2999,1687,x0,y100&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Lawmakers, PERS director agree they must work together in the future
How to plan for retirement using an online calculator
Retirement calculators can give you an idea of when you’ll financially be able to retire.
Problem Solved
State lawmakers will need to readdress concerns about the Public Employment Retirement System of Mississippi in 2025 if it is to remain viable long term, according to a July study.
Legislative actions in the 2024 Session to reduce public employer contribution rate hikes and increase state funding are not enough to address billions in unfunded future benefits to retirees, according to a report released by the Legislature’s third-party watchdog group, the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee.
Projections show the state’s retirement plan being less than 50% fully funded by 2047 and having $25 billion in liabilities. According to several municipal leaders who spoke to the Clarion Ledger earlier this year, the legislative move from lawmakers in the past session should save public employers from cutting positions and raising taxes to keep and hire more public employees.
“Change in approach for increasing the employer contribution rate, in addition to the one-time funds transfer, reduces the plan’s projected future funded ratio from 65.5% to 49.9%,” the report reads. “…The PERS plan is currently expected to be at a lower-funded level in the future than it currently is today.”
PERS Executive Director Ray Higgins told the Clarion Ledger he wasn’t surprised by the report’s findings.
“The PEER analysis seems to be an accurate report and generally reconciles with our information,” Higgins said. “Also, the legislative action from last session appears to be a short-term solution.”
While the report does not list out any specific recommendations for lawmakers this coming year, it says continued work will be necessary to fix the retirement system that has 118,000 retirees receiving benefits and 147,000 active members paying into the system.
In 2023, the PERS governing board, made up of mostly elected members, as advised by financial actuaries who watch over the state’s retirement plan, passed a rate increase on public employers, such as cities, counties and school districts from 17.40% to 19.90% that was to take effect July 1. The rate would have continued to increase to 22.4% by 2027.
In the 2024 Session, the Legislature passed two bills. Senate 3231, prohibits the PERS Board’s plan to gradually increase the employer contribution rate and replaces it with a plan to increase to 19.90% over the next five years in 0.5% annual increases. SB 3231 also takes the board’s only regulatory power to increase rates and puts it in the hands of the Legislature.
SB 2468 enacts a one-time transfer of $110 million of capital expense funds into the PERS trust.
More on PERS bill MS Legislature passes bill restricting state retirement board’s authority
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s Deputy Chief of Staff Leah Rupp Smith told the Clarion Ledger efforts Hosemann helped push forward that resulted in those bills’ passage led to a potentially more stable retirement system.
“To avoid this calamity while developing a future solution, the Legislature adopted a less-aggressive employer increase,” Smith wrote via email. “We are now informed the plan has a projected future funding ratio of 65.5% as of 2047, as compared to 48.6% projected one year ago.”
Republican House Speaker Jason White’s Communications Director Taylor Spillman did not reply to several emails requesting White’s comments on the report.
What are the big problems?
Higgins previously said the ratio of retirees to active members has seen a reverse trend since 2013, when there were 93,000 retirees and 162,000 active members. This increases the unfunded liability of the system as fewer people take jobs in government, reducing active members and more people retire, increasing the funding obligation of PERS.
The other issue lies with projections for the retirement plan’s future if state lawmakers decide not to take action in the years to come.
“While the ($110 million) funding for the first year is comparable, each year in the future could potentially see a greater deviation in expected employer contribution revenues for the PERS plan,” the report reads. “This deviation does not immediately constitute a problem for the PERS plan; however, careful evaluation of the plan’s future liabilities and funding needs will be necessary to ensure the sustainability of the PERS plan.”
Are there any solutions?
Higgins and Smith both said future work on PERS is still a top priority.
Higgins specifically mentioned a new retirement benefits package that could be offered to new public sector employees, which the PERS board has called tier 5.
“The Board has previously recommended a tier 5 for new employees to help better sustain PERS in the future and is currently considering what may be included or resubmitted in next year’s legislative package,” Higgins said.
Read about new Medicaid program Mississippi Medicaid prenatal care access program still awaiting federal approval. Why?
Earlier this year, Hosemann told the Clarion Ledger he wanted to see evidence that a new tier of benefits could help maintain the retirement system long term. Smith did not confirm whether Hosemann’s office is currently studying that idea in the legislative off season, but she did say the Legislature is looking at several ideas.
“The Legislature is exploring any option for a more viable plan,” Smith said. “The Lt. Governor continues to be committed to fulfilling current employee and retiree benefits, including the cost-of-living adjustment for these individuals.”
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
-
World1 week ago
Commission mandarin flags convergence of digital with industry
-
World1 week ago
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 915
-
World1 week ago
Swiss court convicts two executives of embezzling $1.8bn from 1MDB
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago
Slingshot (2024) – Movie Review
-
News1 week ago
Trump Vs Harris: The Battle Over Hot Mics Heats Up Ahead Of Key Debate
-
World1 week ago
Severe drought forces early harvests in Serbia
-
News1 week ago
After months on the run, a murder suspect falls through the ceiling and into custody
-
News1 week ago
The rise of the Pumpkin Spice Latte : It's Been a Minute