FILE - Alabama Governor Kay Ivey visits the sidelines during an NCAA football game between Troy and Arkansas State, Oct. 7, 2023, in Troy, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)
Alabama governor overhauls state’s largest water utility amid cries of racial discrimination
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) 鈥 The city of Birmingham is one step closer to losing control over Alabama’s largest water utility after the governor signed a bill on Wednesday that would give more power to neighboring suburbs, despite a pending federal lawsuit alleging the move would constitute racial discrimination.
FILE - Alabama Governor Kay Ivey visits the sidelines during an NCAA football game between Troy and Arkansas State, Oct. 7, 2023, in Troy, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) 鈥 The city of Birmingham is one step closer to losing control over Alabama’s largest water utility after the governor signed a bill on Wednesday that would give more power to neighboring suburbs, despite a pending federal lawsuit alleging the move would constitute racial discrimination.
power from Birmingham city officials 鈥 who currently appoint a majority of the nine-person board 鈥 to the governor, the lieutenant governor and the surrounding four counties that are also in the board鈥檚 jurisdiction. It also reduces the number of board members to seven. Board members approve rate hikes and manage infrastructure projects for the utility鈥檚 770,000 customers.
The state Senate voted unanimously to pass the bill, and the House of Representatives approved it along party lines.
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鈥淣o doubt, this is an important issue to all those residents served by this utility board. The Alabama Legislature overwhelmingly passed SB330, and I was pleased to sign it into law,鈥 said in a written statement.
Proponents of the bill point to frequent rate hikes, old infrastructure and . The legislation said that the power transfer will prevent catastrophic events that have happened in cities like Jackson, Mississippi, or Detroit, Michigan.
Opponents say that the restructured board wouldn’t solve the utility’s problems.
鈥淭his is a taking of power from the local rate payer by Republican politicians in Montgomery,鈥 Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said in a statement on Wednesday. 鈥淲e have seen this same thing happen in other cities throughout the southeast. Your water and sewer bill will keep going up.鈥
Five counties rely on the Birmingham Water Works Board. Over 40% of customers are concentrated in the city of Birmingham, and 91% are in Jefferson County. The new system would give more weight to Jefferson County鈥檚 neighboring areas that have only a fraction of the customers, but which house some of the reservoirs that supply the system.
Woodfin and city council members Ivey on Tuesday, alleging that the legislation 鈥渃onstitutes blatant racial discrimination鈥 because it gives the majority-white suburbs disproportionate influence and takes power away from Birmingham, a majority-Black city where close to half of the utility’s customers live.
Birmingham City Council President Darrell O鈥橯uinn said that the decision exacerbates long-standing tensions in the region.
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鈥淩egardless of whether our efforts prevail, the worst, deep-seated fears of the citizens of the City of Birmingham about their suburban neighbors have been confirmed. Old wounds have been reopened. Years of progress have been destroyed,鈥 O’Quinn said.
U.S. Chief District Judge Emily C. Marks declined to temporarily block the bill from going into effect on Tuesday evening without first hearing oral arguments from either side. She set a hearing for May 15.
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Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
