Jackson City suspends December water shutoffs after billing and alert-system failures

The City Manager announced the city will not complete any nonpayment water shutoffs in December, citing multiple technical failures affecting billing and customer notices. “The city will not be, completing any non payment shutoffs in December,” the manager said, adding the decision was made so customers would not be harmed while staff untangle payment and notification problems.

The manager named three primary causes: the Point and Pay payment processor has experienced errors that in some cases double-charged customers; the city’s back-end billing system (referred to in the transcript as “BSNA”) was migrated to the cloud and imported outdated account information, and the Code Red notification system was compromised, leaving the city unable to send routine shutoff alerts. “Since we haven't been able to use that, we can't let people know who do owe on their water bill that they owe like we like to do,” the manager said.

Officials said the city is working to restore accurate billing and communications. The manager said the city has started moving to a new notification system and expects to implement a new payment platform to replace Point and Pay. “We will move to a new communication system like Code Red in January,” the manager said, and added the city is already beginning the migration and will “implement a new, payment recipient program” to avoid repeat billing errors.

No formal vote was recorded on the suspension; the announcement was presented for council and public information at the meeting. City staff said they will post updates on the city website and social media and notify local media.

The city did not provide a firm timetable for restoring routine shutoffs or the estimated number of affected accounts; officials said they will continue working with providers and will communicate further details when available.