Mississippi
‘There’s a hunger to see if we can pull this off’: Henifin talks next steps for funding Jackson water
![‘There’s a hunger to see if we can pull this off’: Henifin talks next steps for funding Jackson water ‘There’s a hunger to see if we can pull this off’: Henifin talks next steps for funding Jackson water](https://mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ted-Henifin-presser4.jpg)
Jackson water head Ted Henifin stated Friday he would advocate to increase federal oversight of the town’s water system to 5 years, permitting his staff to make the mandatory infrastructure enhancements utilizing just lately allotted federal funds.
Throughout a press convention the place he mentioned his monetary proposal for future funding of the town’s water system, Henifin additionally stated a invoice now earlier than the Legislature could put a roadblock in the best way of his deliberate modifications to the water billing system.
Henifin emphasised that Jackson’s infrastructure continues to be in a spot the place the system may “fail tomorrow,” however that the roughly $800 million coming to Jackson might be sufficient to handle the town’s points so long as it might have a stabile income plan shifting ahead.
“I’d say, sure, the (roughly) $1 billion is sufficient, as soon as we’re on basis shifting ahead,” he stated.
His press convention Friday got here hours after submitting a monetary proposal to a federal decide. Henifin will spend the following few months receiving suggestions from the general public, with the purpose of getting a brand new income mannequin to fund the water system in place on Oct. 1.
It additionally comes on the finish of week the place payments that might have an effect on his billing plans and wrest management of the water system had been making their method via the Legislature.
New state invoice may thwart modifications to billing mannequin
Henifin acknowledged Friday that he’s proposing a billing construction for residents primarily based on buyer’s property worth fairly than how a lot water a buyer consumes, an thought geared toward restoring belief within the billing system and protecting charges inexpensive.
He defined that the median single household family would pay about $50 a month for water and sewer, just like what that residence can be paying now. In one other instance he gave, somebody with a $100,000-valued property can be paying about $100 a month.
Payments can be capped at $150 a month for residential properties, he stated, and at $600 for industrial properties.
So far as he knew, the one different utility within the nation with such a mannequin is Milwaukee with its wastewater system. He added that cities throughout the nation wish to revamp their billing constructions as a result of conventional methods are making companies unaffordable for poorer residents. These locations, he defined, might be paying shut consideration to how such a change would work in Jackson.
“There’s going to be an enormous starvation to see if we will pull this off and discover a higher solution to do it,” Henifin stated.
Whereas some water coverage specialists consider payments ought to have some connection to residents’ consumption to not pressure a metropolis’s infrastructure, Henifin stated the town is dropping a lot water as it’s — 25 million to 30 million gallons a day, or a minimum of half of the 50 million gallons a day the town can produce — that consumption isn’t a priority.
“There’s no quantity of conservation that our residents may do to make up for the quantity we’re dropping,” he stated. “If (Jacksonians) resolve to run their sprinklers all day and take half hour showers each morning, it’s not going to make a distinction in comparison with the mountain of water we’re dropping.”
Per the advice of the state Well being Division, Jackson has positioned residents below a water conservation advisory since final summer season.
The larger concern, Henifin defined, is ensuring the town has dependable income via its billing system, which has been plagued for years by defective metering. That cash, together with the latest federal funds, will go to improve the delicate water strains which might be inflicting the town to lose a lot of its water.
He added {that a} new hydraulic mannequin for the town, which is close to completion, will assist present the place the town’s leaks are. As a result of the town doesn’t have a mannequin, “we’ve received little information of what occurs” when water leaves the 2 remedy crops, he stated.
However modifications to the town’s billing could possibly be placed on maintain if state lawmakers have their method. On Thursday, the Senate accredited a invoice that might require cities to cost clients for water primarily based on their consumption.
Whereas the U.S. Division of Justice order appointing Henifin gave him broad authority, he clarified that it doesn’t enable him to violate state regulation, and that if the he invoice is signed by Gov. Tate Reeves he could should rethink the plan.
When requested what it might imply for ratepayers if the town sticks to a consumption-based system, he stated charges must go up 50% to generate the mandatory income for the town. He added that some houses would see a rise of their payments along with his proposal as properly.
Invoice that might shrink Jackson’s management
Henifin was additionally requested about one other invoice, which handed via a Senate committee on Tuesday, that might create a nine-member board to supervise Jackson’s water system when the DOJ lifts its present order; 5 of the appointments can be made by the governor and lieutenant governor, and simply 4 would come from the Jackson’s mayor, successfully eradicating management from the town’s management.
The invoice would additionally require the board to seek the advice of with the mayors of Byram and Ridgeland, regardless of the latter having sparse property that’s served by Jackson water.
Henifin in an interview with WLBT on Wednesday known as the plan a “pure seize for cash”.
A part of the DOJ order offers Henifin the flexibility to advocate how Jackson manages the water system shifting ahead. Whereas indirectly addressing the Senate proposal, Henifin stated he’ll advocate that the DOJ lengthen its oversight of the water system to 5 years, giving his staff sufficient time to spend the brand new federal funding.
He added that one choice that he thinks “could have some benefit” is making a board-led nonprofit that might procure contracts extra shortly than what’s allowed for a municipal authorities.
Climbing out of debt
Henifin started Friday’s briefing discussing Jackson’s debt. With a poor credit standing and no money readily available, the town would battle to borrow any cash for its water system as issues stand at this time, he defined. Proper now, the town is having to pay again $23 million a yr in direction of its debt.
The purpose, he stated, is to get Jackson to a degree the place it might borrow cash if it must. To do this, Henifin stated he’s planning to spend $290 million of the $450 million supplied by Congress for capital enhancements to remove the town’s debt.
He stated that doing so will nonetheless go away sufficient cash to make the mandatory infrastructure upgrades, particularly when factoring within the metropolis’s projected income that might come along with his monetary proposal.
“In 5 years, we’d be producing $20 million a yr in capital enchancment cash that might return into our system yr after yr after yr,” Henifin stated. “And the charges might be inexpensive throughout the inhabitants in Jackson. So I don’t assume we will hit an even bigger residence run than that.”
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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.
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