Anyone who follows the news knows that Detroit has fallen on some hard times. In 2013, the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, the largest city ever to do so. In an effort to get their financial woes behind them the city is turning to some less-than-compassionate means: Looking for ways to recuperate money, the city’s water company is going after the city’s residential customers who are behind on water payments, which is a lot of them.
That edict has the potential to affect an astonishing 140,000 homes around Detroit. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is just waiting for the weather to warm up enough and then they will begin going to work – sending out crews to shut off the water in 3,000 homes a week.
The new policy will also affect businesses, schools, and even – somewhat ironically – some government buildings.
Some of the delinquency is a result of the bankruptcy itself. There is a lot of confusion around who owes what and what still needs to be paid.
Darryl Latimer, the water department’s deputy director and the person leading the collection efforts, says settling up with the city government is a work in progress.“You have some departments that are behind, some departments that are disputing some changes,” he said. “And in some cases, it’s not clear-cut who’s responsible for what facilities.”Latimer is negotiating. He is also trying to be patient as staff for a new mayor get their bearings. “We were close with the schools,” he said. The city’s school system has back bills of $3.3 million. “However, we were able to work out an agreement, and they’re on schedule with their payment arrangement.” [source]
The water company is quick to point out that this is simply
part of doing business. If the threat of shut off isn’t there, people
just stop worrying about paying their bills. In that respect, the plan
has already seen some positive effects. The New York Times reports that
after several local papers carried the story, the department’s service
centers saw a large increase in traffic. It’s unclear how much money
they have recuperated so far.
But it’s not the people who have slacked off in paying
their bills that are most worrying. Detroit has a large amount of
residents that live in poverty. Those people may not have the money to
pay the utilities, but simply cutting them off shouldn’t be the answer.
“It always is troublesome to hear when a provider of any kind of utility or municipal service is going to shut off service to residents,” said Mia Cupp, the director of development and communications for Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency. “Water is a basic human need, and we know that there is a great amount of poverty in the city.” [source]
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has promised to
work closely with poor residents to ensure that those who truly can’t
afford to pay don’t lose their water, but if they don’t make good on
that promise, there will be more hardship in a city that has already
seen so much.
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