A legislative measure could help fund Jackson water, but cut funding for the city’s roads

by

kobee vance

• Published on February 3, 2023 • Comments

Mississippi state Rep. Earle Banks, D-Jackson, asks a question at the Mississippi state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 18, 2022. During a House debate on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, Banks opposed a bill that would further restrict the way the city of Jackson spends money from a 1% local sales tax.
AP Photos/Rogelio V. Solis

A bill in Mississippi’s legislature would reroute funding from a special sales tax in Jackson towards improvements in water infrastructure. But local lawmakers say it would harm other infrastructure projects in the city.

Kobee Vance

A legislative measure could help fund Jackson water, but cut funding for the city’s roads

House Bill 1168 would modify a statute passed in 2014, which raised the sales tax in Jackson from 7% to 8%. Revenue from the 1% tax difference is roughly $16 million annually according to lawmakers, and funds must be approved for use by a commission for things relating to infrastructure. Republican Representative Trey Lamar of Senatobia authored the bill.

“There’s no money at all being taken away from Jackson, we’re just simply prioritizing where it’s going to be spent. And I hear Jackson’s got a water problem,” says Lamar. “So I think it makes sense to focus that money at this time, and certainly we can come back and change it later, but it makes sense it my mind to focus that additional money they’ve been receiving since 2014 on water and sewer needs.”

But Democratic Representatives from across the Jackson Metro area disagree with Lamar, saying this would direct essential dollars away from road and bridge maintenance in the capital city. Democratic Representative Christopher Bell says a few million goes a long way in fixing roads, but is a drop in the bucket compared to the large federal grants coming to the city for water infrastructure.

Bell asks “What sense does this make to take these funds and utilize them for water infrastructure only when we are already receiving $800 million from the feds?”

And during floor debate, Representative Earle Banks of Jackson spoke against the bill.

“Please don’t change this commission,” says Banks. “Let this commission that I didn’t care for but I accepted it, because I accepted it for the needs of my constituents and the future of this capital city. So I do say to you, this is too much.”

Following more than an hour of floor discussion, the bill passed the House with a vote of 76 yays and 41 nays.