Jackson continues to build the team that it hopes will lessen the burden of its consent decree on lower-income residents.
Recently, the Jackson City Council approved hiring the Galardi Rothstein Group, which will help the city review its billing and collection practices, establish an assistance program for low-income ratepayers, and renegotiate terms of the city’s sewer consent decree.
The Chicago-based firm will join the Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton law firm, which was brought on earlier this year to lead the negotiations.
“We’re building our team right now. As we build, we’ll start putting together (the strategy) for how we’ll negotiate,” said Jackson Chief Administrative Officer Robert Blaine.
The contract is not to exceed $150,000. Consultants will bill the city at $245 and $275 an hour, according to documents.
The council approved the request unanimously, on the recommendation of Public Works Director Robert Miller.
Galardi Rothstein “are experts in resizing consent decrees. Once we work with the EPA to get a modified consent decree, we’ll have to finance it,” Miller said. “They are national experts on that as well.”
Miller said he worked with the firm previously, including in New Orleans, when Galardi Rothstein helped “lay out a strategy that took our bonds from junk status to an A+ rating in five years,” he said.
Miller also pointed to Rothstein’s work in Atlanta and Detroit.
In 2012, Atlanta was given an additional 13 years to complete $445 million in consent decree work, extending the deadline from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2027, according to wateronline.com.
At the heart of the matter is Jackson’s sewer consent decree, how the city will pay for it and how long the city has to complete it.
The city entered into the decree in 2012, after being cited for numerous violations to the federal Clean Water Act.
Initially, the city was required to make some $400 million in repairs to its sewer system to bring it into compliance with federal law.
Jackson was given 17.5 years to complete the work.
Since then, cost estimates for consent decree deliverables have increased to between $600 million and $800 million, placing additional financial burden on the city.
The decree is being enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Blaine said city officials have met with EPA leaders, and they are open to renegotiating terms.
“(They) understand the financial capacity of Jackson is not commensurate with the timeline for deliverables,” Blaine said
The city is able to renegotiate the decree thanks to changes in federal policy.
Previously, the EPA determined consent decrees based on an area’s median income.
To pay for the work, decrees are typically funded through increases in water and sewer rates.
Because of its decree, in 2013 Jackson raised water and sewer fees by 29 and 100 percent respectively.
Under new federal guidelines, though, the EPA is now required to gauge how decree-related increases affect the city’s poorest residents.
“Instead of focusing on median income (the EPA now focuses) on the lower 20 to 25-percent income levels and looks at what rates (would be necessary to do the work), and what impact (higher rates) would have on those folks,” said Deputy City Attorney Terry Williamson.
Per capita income in the capital city is around $19,042 a year, about $12,000 less than the national average. The median household income in Jackson is $33,080 a year, about $26,000 less than the national median, Census Bureau data shows.
Earlier this year, the city brought on Susan Richardson, with Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton, to represent the city in renegotiation efforts.
That contract is expected to run between $100,000 and $160,000.
