Jackson, Mississippi Proposes Unique Plan to Lower Water Rates for Low-Income Residents

The proposal, a potential first in the nation, aims to alleviate the burden on those receiving federal grocery aid while increasing overall revenue collections.

• Ted Henifin, interim third-party manager for JXN Water, has proposed a slight rate increase for most residents in Jackson, Mississippi, alongside a first-in-the-nation proposal to reduce water rates for low-income people who receive government help with grocery bills.
• The proposal is part of a monthslong effort to increase revenue collections in a city where roughly a quarter of the population lives in poverty and comes after infrastructure breakdowns in 2022 left many residents without safe running water.
• Henifin's proposal creates a new rate tier for the roughly 12,500 Jackson water customers who receive benefits from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), who will see their water bills lowered by an average of $20 a month.
• The proposal marks the first rate increase since a federal judge appointed Henifin to manage Jackson's water system last November. The majority of JXN Water's residential customers would see an increase of about $10 per month, or a 13% increase.
• Henifin will propose the new rate structure to Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who would then put the proposal on the City Council's agenda. Henifin hopes the proposal will be considered by the council on Dec. 5, but he said the federal order allows him to implement the proposal regardless.

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