Actions by the US Department of Justice will delay or potentially eliminate the ability to provide water rate relief to the estimated 15,000 households served by JXN Water which currently receive SNAP benefits.
JACKSON, Miss., June 15, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The US Department of Justice (US DOJ) and the Mississippi Attorney General filed notices of appeal from the order issued by US Federal District Judge Henry T. Wingate’s on April 16, 2024, directing the United States and the State of Mississippi to confidentially disclose Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) information to the Interim Third-Party Manager (ITPM).
The SNAP data is needed by the ITPM to identify customers that are eligible to be included in the new SNAP Customer Classification implemented with the new rate structure effective on February 1, 2024. The rate for customers in the SNAP Customer Classification includes a reduced availability fee, ensuring water and sewer bills can be paid by all. It will also allow the ITPM to avoid spending significant amounts of ratepayer money seeking to collect bills which these customers are simply unable to pay.
Judge Wingate’s order found the rate structure associated with the ITPM’s SNAP Customer Classification satisfied the criteria under federal statute for the confidential release of the SNAP recipients’ names and addresses so that they could be categorically placed in the SNAP Customer Classification without the need for extensive administrative efforts on the part of the ITPM and without requiring customers endure an additional burdensome application process to be appropriately included in the SNAP Customer Classification.
For reasons we simply don’t understand, the US Department of Justice disagrees that the ITPM’s rate schedule constitutes a federal assistance program under the SNAP statute and, accordingly, object to the State of Mississippi giving the ITPM the list (to be used in strict confidence).
The US Department of Justice has doubled down by threatening to withdraw SNAP benefits for the entire state if the State complies with Judge Wingate’s order. That threat has forced the Mississippi Attorney General to also appeal Judge Wingate’s order. The ITPM is an officer of Judge Wingate’s court, and his January 2024 rate schedule (including the SNAP Customer Classification rate schedule) easily qualifies as a federal assistance program. There is no good reason that DOJ can’t acquiesce and allow the State to share the list with the ITPM.
“While we would have preferred that Mississippi’s Attorney General not appeal Judge Wingate’s order, we recognize that the US DOJ has put them between a rock and a hard place given their threat to punish all SNAP recipients in Mississippi if the State gives the ITPM the Jackson area SNAP list,” said ITPM Ted Henifin.
These actions by the US Department of Justice will delay or potentially eliminate the ability to provide water rate relief to the estimated 15,000 households served by JXN Water which currently receive SNAP benefits. Under the ITPM’s rate structure, SNAP recipients would save $30 per month and save the ITPM untold collection costs.
The DOJ’s misguided opposition to the confidential use of SNAP recipient’s names and addresses to provide significant water rate assistance is inexplicable and disheartening given the economic challenges the beneficiaries face (Mississippi has the lowest per capita income in the nation and this rate relief is for residents of the City of Jackson, a community with a minority population of over 80 percent).
DOJ’s ill-advised and unnecessary opposition is particularly troubling given the water-related suffering these residents have endured for years.
ABOUT JXN WATER
Committed to providing safe, reliable drinking water and collecting and cleaning wastewater before it returns to our local waterways, JXN Water is the Mississippi corporation led by an Interim Third-Party Manager to achieve the objectives of the federal stipulated orders that re-establish the entire water system.
Media Contact
Ameerah Palacios, JXN Water, 1 5022435803, [email protected], www.JXNwater.com
SOURCE JXN Water
Commitments continue to roll in for Mississippi State, and the momentum of last weekend is looking to carry into this weekend, where nearly two dozen official visitors are expected on campus. Brian Hadad and Robbie Faulk discuss the latest additions to the class of 2025.
Mississippi’s sales tax holiday is just around the corner.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Wednesday that the annual weekend where shoppers can buy goods without the pesky 7% tax tacked onto the bill will be held from Friday, July 12 through Sunday, June 14.
Senate Bill 2470, authored by Republican Walter Michel of Ridgeland, moved the annual holiday from the final weekend of July to the second weekend of the month. The legislation, which received unanimous support from both chambers in the capitol, also extended the holiday period for an extra day.
“We extended the holiday by an extra day so y’all can enjoy even more tax-free shopping in Mississippi,” Reeves wrote on X.
According to the Mississippi Department of Revenue, a sales tax holiday is a temporary period when sales taxes are not collected or paid on purchases of specific products and services. Sales tax is not due during the holiday on clothing, footwear, or school supplies if the sales price of a single item is less than $100.
The same applies to items that are purchased online — as long as they are ordered within the tax-free weekend period and the cost is under $100.
Mississippi moved the annual event back to the middle of the summer to accommodate parents buying school supplies for children in districts with modified calendars.
A full list of items being sold free of sales taxes can be found here.
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The state of Mississippi awarded $70.9 million this week to nine providers to cover some of the costs of 24 broadband deployment projects in areas lacking high-speed service.
Among the awardees were AT&T, Comcast, C Spire, Conexon and other primarily local providers.
The state did not detail how much money will go to each provider, but instead announced which providers would serve which counties. In some cases, there were multiple projects in a single county, and sometimes more than one provider won funding in the county.
AT&T won funding for projects in four counties and Comcast won funding for projects in three counties.
C Spire, a Mississippi-based company that offers mobile and fiber service in the state, won funding for two counties. Conexon also won funding for two counties. The company started out several years ago as a consultant to electric companies entering the broadband business but more recently began offering broadband service on its own.
A third company that won funding for two counties is Swyft Connect, a fiber provider serving Louisiana and Alabama, as well as Mississippi.
Companies that won funding for a single county were Delta Fiber, DE Fastlink, Franklin Telephone and Uplink.
Delta Fiber is a local fiber provider. DE Fastlink is the broadband unit of Dixie Electric.
Franklin Telephone is a rural provider founded in the 1950s. Uplink is a local provider offering fiber and fixed wireless.
A full list of awardees is as follows:
The award decisions were made by Mississippi’s Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility (BEAM). Funding came through the federal Capital Projects Fund.
The funding is expected to make high-speed broadband available to approximately 27,000 households in 19 counties.
Additional information about Mississippi broadband, including links to state funding resources, state specific Telecompetitor coverage, awards made and more, can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
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