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How Jackson, MS, says it spent the Siemens settlement as federal judge investigation looms
A public records request submitted by the Clarion Ledger shows how the City of Jackson spent the majority of the money it received in a nearly $90 million legal settlement with Siemens, a multinational engineering company the city hired to revamp its water billing system.
The contract, signed in 2013, was meant to overhaul the city's water billing system, but instead left thousands of residents with faulty meters, inaccurate bills and years of financial fallout.
After legal fees and other deductions, Jackson received $59,829,531 from the settlement, according to public records. Roughly $30 million went to the law firms that represented the city — Lightfoot, Franklin & White of Birmingham, Alabama; Winston J. Thompson III PLLC of Jackson, Mississippi; and Ice Miller LLP of Indianapolis, Indiana — under a contingency-fee arrangement. The figure matches what interim City Attorney Drew Martin told U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate during a court hearing on July 14.
The Clarion Ledger reached out multiple times on Monday, Aug. 4, to Mayor John Horhn's administration — including to interim Communications Director Nic Lott, interim Chief Financial Officer Fidelis Malembeka and Martin — by phone and email. None responded to questions about the public records, the federal investigation or whether this document is what the city intends to submit to Judge Wingate — or if it already has.
Breakdown of Siemens settlement funds received by the City of Jackson
$14,716,028 – Deposited into the water/sewer reserve fund, as required by bond covenant.
$12,614,799 – Repaid to the city's General Fund.
$18,540,107 – Placed in escrow at Trustmark Bank to cover:
1/12 principal payments
1/6 interest payments
Debt service payments through December 2020
$3,500,000 – Used for emergency sewer repairs.
$1,508,417 – Covered sanitation cash deficit due to billing system failures.
$8,950,180 – Remaining balance for water system repairs or new billing system implementation.
The public records request also notes that on Nov. 18, 2020, the Jackson City Council approved a contract with Mythics LLC — a company brought on to provide software, support, and maintenance services for the city's struggling water billing system — for $8,656,196.65. It states that $1,657,282.23 was paid to the company out of a $7 million emergency loan fund, and that $6,998,914.42 is being paid under the Sustainability Partners contract. Sustainability Partners, an Arizona-based firm, was initially hired by the city to replace broken water meters.
It is unclear why any of this information was included in the Siemens settlement breakdown, and the city did not respond to multiple requests for clarification.
The Clarion Ledger also requested to see budgets, memos, reports or other documents tracking how the Siemens funds were spent, but the city only provided a list of expenditures and did not include any supporting records.
Court testimony largely matches public records, but gaps remain
During the July 14 court hearing, Martin told Wingate the city had $59.8 million from the settlement as of April 30, 2020, and spent roughly $50 million between July and September of that year. He told Wingate that $36–37 million went toward bond debts and bringing the city into compliance with water and sewer bond covenants, with millions more covering deficits in the water and sewer departments.
Martin's statements and figures generally align with the breakdown included in the public records request, though the records offer a more detailed account of how the money was distributed.
However, Martin could not answer how the funds were deposited or who handled the transactions — two questions Wingate specifically raised. He said the city's finance department was still working to compile the relevant records.
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Mayor Horhn says city is nearly done gathering records
Speaking after the Jackson City Council's July 29 meeting, Mayor John Horhn told the Clarion Ledger the city is still in the process of gathering all necessary documents to respond to Wingate's broad subpoena order. Horhn was not in the mayor's office during the Siemens lawsuit; it was handled under former Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who was notably not included in Wingate's list of subpoena recipients.
'We're still gathering all the documents, and it's a pretty large volume,' Horhn said. 'We should be close to submitting everything to Judge Wingate soon. From what we've seen, most of the $60 million the city received went toward debt service and other water system expenses. Some software — a product from an Oracle subsidiary — was also delivered to the city.'
Horhn also questioned why the city paid out $30 million in legal fees, noting that the law firms involved never argued the case in court.
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Law firm challenges subpoena as city claims no records on legal fees
One of those firms, Lightfoot, Franklin & White of Birmingham, Alabama, has challenged the subpoena. In a motion filed July 28, the firm argued it wasn't properly served, asks legal materials that violates attorney-client privilege and makes unreasonable demands given the firm's location.
On July 12, the Clarion Ledger filed another public records request asking the City of Jackson to provide documentation showing how much was paid to each law firm or attorney involved in the 2020 Siemens settlement. All collectively received roughly $30 million — about one-third of the settlement — but how that money was divided among them remains unclear.
In an Aug. 1 response letter, the city said it had no documents responsive to the request.
'This could be due [to the fact that] the prospective law firms deducted their fees prior to sending the City of Jackson its portion of the Siemens settlement,' the letter stated.
Federal judge wants answers before approving water rate hikes
Wingate is the federal judge currently overseeing Jackson's water system rehabilitation, which remains under federal control following the city's water crisis in 2022. He appointed engineer Ted Henifin as interim third-party manager in late 2022, a role that led to the creation of JXN Water, the independent entity now managing the system.
In July, Wingate issued 18 subpoenas to city officials, JXN Water, Siemens, former Jackson public works directors and several law firms involved in the case. The subpoenas demand a full accounting of how the Siemens funds were allocated, including bank statements, disbursement logs, wire transfer records and other documents.
In court, Wingate has expressed frustration with the city's lack of documentation. So far, no official has been able to provide a complete financial paper trail.
Wingate has since paused a proposed rate increase for JXN Water customers, saying it would be unfair to raise residents' bills until the court knows whether all available resources — including Siemens settlement dollars — were exhausted.
A $90 million contract that unraveled
The original contract with Siemens dates back to 2013, when Jackson hired the multinational firm to install digital meters, modernize its billing platform and improve collections. The deal was worth $90 million and touted as a major step forward for the city's aging infrastructure.
But the project quickly unraveled. Meters were installed improperly, some residents didn't get bills at all, and the city's revenue plummeted. Jackson sued Siemens and several subcontractors in 2019, accusing them of delivering a system that never worked.
Siemens denied wrongdoing but agreed to the $90 million settlement in 2020.
At the time, city leaders said the funds would help repair the damage and stabilize Jackson's water system.
Charlie Drape is the Jackson beat reporter. You can contact him at cdrape@
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Records reveal how Jackson, MS, spent Siemens settlement money
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