Jackson County residents upset over high water bills - WLOX

Jackson County residents upset over high water bills

JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - Jackson County residents of the South Point neighborhood gathered together to compare their water bills from this month. Numbers they never thought they would see.

One resident, Oliver Autmon, said this simply will not do. “I can tell you right here - this is unacceptable,” he said. “We don’t expect to pay this.”

Autmon and his wife were more than alarmed when they received their bill and found that it had almost doubled since the month prior. However, this wasn’t the only number that caught them off guard.

“We also had the added sewer, which we were paying a flat rate of 59 dollars,” said Autmon. “This month we’re paying 325 dollars.”

In a statement WLOX received from Jackson County Utility Authority, a board member said that the higher bills reflected are due to the implementation of meters earlier in the year. Another upset resident, Christine Lawrence, said something isn’t right about the meters.

“When I complained, they came out and they did a data log,” said Lawrence. “Took a data log where they read how much water. And when they sent me the data log, it showed we used over 69 thousand gallons of water. Which is absurd.”

Lawrence told me it is just her and her husband that live in their household, so, these numbers just don’t make any sense. You may be floored when you hear the amount she is due to pay this month.

“They told me it was 956 dollars,” said Lawrence. “But the bill before that said I used over 27 thousand gallons and that was 158 dollars which was very high as well.”

Multiple residents, alongside Autmon and Lawrence, told me they have reached out to the Utility Authority. They said none of their questions have been answered and some residents said the authority told them there wasn’t a solution. Residents said they simply cannot afford bills like this.

The next JCUA board meeting is October 23. Jackson County residents said they will be in attendance, demanding answers.

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