Alabama Governor Reshapes Leadership at State’s Largest Water Utility Amid Allegations of Racial Bias

MONTGOMERY, AL— The city of Birmingham is one step closer to losing control of Alabama’s biggest water utility. On Wednesday, the governor signed a bill that would give more power to nearby suburbs, even though a federal case is still being prepared that says the move is racist.

The bill changes who has power from Birmingham city officials—who currently choose most of the nine-person board—to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the four counties around Birmingham that are also under the board’s control. It also cuts the number of board members from eight to seven. The board decides on rate hikes and oversees building projects for the 770,000 customers of the utility.

The bill was passed by the state Senate with a majority vote, and it was also passed by the House of Representatives with votes split down the middle.

“There’s no doubt that this is a big deal for everyone that this utility board serves.” There was a lot of support for SB330 in the Alabama Legislature, and I was happy to sign it into law, said Republican Gov. Kay Ivey in a written statement.

Rate hikes happen too often, equipment is old, and there have been recent scandals, say people who support the bill. The law said that the power transfer would stop terrible things from happening in places like Detroit, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi.

People who are against the change say that it won’t help the utility’s problems.

“This is an attack on the people of Montgomery by Republican politicians,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said in a statement on Wednesday. People in other towns in the southeast have seen the same thing happen. The bills for water and sewage will keep going up.

The Birmingham Water Works Board helps five counties. A lot of customers live in Birmingham (over 40%), and most of them (91%) live in Jefferson County. With the new system, the nearby areas of Jefferson County that have few customers but some of the reservoirs that feed the system would be given more weight.

Woodfin and city council members filed a federal lawsuit against Ivey on Tuesday, alleging that the legislation “constitutes blatant racial discrimination” 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.

President of the Birmingham City Council, Darrell O’Quinn, said that the ruling makes problems in the area even worse.

“It doesn’t matter if our efforts succeed or fail; the worst fears that people in the City of Birmingham have about their neighbours in the suburbs have been confirmed.” Old wounds have become open again. O’Quinn said, “Years of progress have been lost.”

As of Tuesday evening, U.S. Chief District Judge Emily C. Marks did not temporarily stop the bill from going into effect before hearing oral statements from both sides. The meeting was set for May 15.

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