The announcement two weeks ago that JXN Water was already poised to sever the water lines to five of the capital city’s largest apartment complexes for their massive unpaid accounts got the attention of landlords and tenants alike.
JXN Water spokeswoman Aisha Carson said Monday that the water was restored to some of the complexes that had been cut off temporarily in order to avoid punishing the innocent tenants who regularly pay housing management their rent bill, which includes the fees for water. The owners and tenants of Blossom Apartments on South Woodbine Road and Gardenside Apartments on Northside Drive suffered through temporary cutoffs on April 9. More recently, JXN Water posted new notices of permanent cutoffs until the massive bills are paid.
Gardenside management was $140,000 in arrears and no contact had been made with owners who lived out of town, JXN Water initially announced.
The first notice was a statement of intent, Carson said. The next move will be to follow through with the shut off if the apartment owners don’t come to terms with their bills, Carson said.
“We understand the impact on residents who may not be directly responsible for the non-payment,“ said Carson. “We encourage residents in affected properties to engage with their property management company immediately to understand the steps being taken to restore service.”
The five apartment complexes were warned in March and April that their overdue water bills, ranging from $267,000 at Addison Place Apartments at 3175 Robinson St., up to $443,000 at Tracewood Apartments at 6300 Old Canton Road, would force termination of services.
The three other complexes listed as delinquent in the April 26 WLBT 3 On Your Side report were: Carrington Townhouses, 420 Beasley Rd., $330,000 past due; Blossom Apartments at 3100 Woodbine St., $436,000 past due; and The Park at St. Andrew’s, 2119 Woodland Way, $325,000 past due.
WLBT reported that none of the five property owners was based in Jackson. That report was corrected Monday when Tony Little, a Jackson property investor, revealed that he is the owner of the Blossom Apartments and that there was no way that his 44 tenants could have used the massive amount of water that JXN wants to charge him. He complained that there was something terribly wrong with the amount of money he was cited as owing.
The Blossom Apartments’ April bill of $436,000 had increased to $471,000 by June, with $17,549 due for the month of June alone.
Little said JXN Water has charged him for using over 83 million gallons, the equivalent of 120 Olympic sized swimming pools. The EPA estimates that the typical family uses 400 gallons of water a day, Little said.
Little finds it to be ironic that he has had to close down 15 of his apartments that were damaged by a major water main break a little over a year ago. The idle property deprives him of $17,000 a month in rental income, he said. The repair of the break in the water line is the responsibility of JXN Water, he suggests.
“I don’t mind paying you for something, but I don’t owe you this,” he said about JXN Water’s exorbitant charges. “There’s no possible way I can owe you this.”
Little has rejected a plan for payment presented to him by JXN Water.
Tenants at the Blossom Apartments pay their water bills as part of their rent. Some of these tenants who have lived at the Blossom complex for many years say they aren’t sure what they will do if the water is shut off.
“I guess I might have to move out,” said Wanda J., who asked not to be identified by her full name. “I’ve been here for three years, and I didn’t know there was a problem until I saw the cut off notice if the manager didn’t pay their bill.”
T.J., another tenant in the southwest sector of the complex for the past eight years, said he hopes that the matter is straightened before the water lines are shut down.
“There ain’t much that I can do about it,” he said. “I pay the bill to the manager. And that’s the only time we see them is when it comes time to pay the rent.
Some apartment complex managers cited confusion over whether water bills sent before January 2024 are expected to be paid in full, or if the tenants are only liable for the water they’ve used since the new meters were installed beginning in February of this year. There were some complaints that some of the housing units have not received their new meters and are at a loss as to how to make the payments.
Carson said that JXN Water will have a final update on the status of the installation of new meters systemwide in its quarterly report due August 1.
