Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — Taylor Jones received a $1,600 water bill to his Belhaven home, and the 23-year-old college graduate doesn't know where to turn. "This was the first bill I had received from the city," Jones said during a phone interview on Aug. 16, "and I was appalled by the amount."

The first thing he did was go outside and check his meter. He said that he was not using any unusually high amount. So he called the city and was told that he was being charged a predicted amount from all the way back in September of last year.

How much is that? Jones said that the City charged him for use of 162,734 gallons of water for a total bill of $1,609.71. By his calculations, he said, he would have had to take 90 25-minute-long showers every day to reach that amount.

Jones said that as a recent graduate he is still looking for a job and even had an interview that very afternoon, and so the $1,600 bill could not come at a worse time. The City offered him a payment plan: pay a third of the bill, which is a little over $500, and then $50 a month until it is paid off. His deadline to pay up is Aug. 27.

Jones, who does not have a lawyer, said that he would write his councilwoman, Ward 7's Margaret Barrett-Simon, about the matter.

"I'm not looking to get any extra compensation out of this. I am a fair person," Jones said. "I just don't believe that I should have to pay for back bills that were not my mistake in the first place."

This problem—the lack of water-sewer revenue combined with the many problems with billing—has led to a financial crunch in the city. Michael Thomas, the City's financial consultant from Systems Consultants Associates, laid out the water billing problem for the city's leaders when he presented to the council on Monday.

"This is probably the biggest threat to the financial operations of the city, just because there are so many things riding on the effectiveness of this department," Thomas said. "Right now, the challenge for Public Works is that every billable customer has to receive a bill every single month."

Thomas said that any irregularities must be reported and that shut-offs must be reinstated. Not surprisingly, Thomas said that without the threat of shut-offs, some customers were simply not paying their bills. But, without a system that sent the bills consistently, there is even less chance that the City can recover the lost revenue.

"As in my conversation with (Public Works), you have some 10,000 to 15,000 every month since October that were not getting billed," he said.

"Everyone has to be doing their job," Thomas added, from the meter-readers to the billing department.

Mayor Tony Yarber, when presenting the proposed budget to the city council, outlined his financial goals for the city over the next year. "There are some things that we are about to start doing in this city as it relates to our finances that is going to put our city where we need to be," Yarber said. "We have two primary goals for this budget season."

The two goals that the mayor set out are to rebuild the reserve-fund balance and to do away with Friday furloughs for the city employees by 2018. To reach this goal, the City will have to shave off excess positions and restructure, Thomas said, to the tune of over $7 million.

Some of the restructuring could mean that some people lose their jobs. On Tuesday, the mayor said that any layoffs that the budget will necessitate must be announced by Aug. 25.

The council will continue to meet over next week to hear from all departments concerning their projected budgets for the next year. "We have a very challenging couple of weeks ahead," Priester said, adding that the City hopes to vote on the budget on Sept. 13, with a public hearing Sept. 2.

Email city reporter Tim Summers, Jr. at [email protected]. See more local news at jfp.ms/localnews and follow him for breaking news on Twitter @tims_alive.