DETROIT (AP) - Detroit last year shut off water service to 23,300 homes while leaving the taps running at thousands of businesses that owe millions of dollars, according to a newspaper’s review of documents published Friday.
The Detroit News obtained records through the Freedom of Information Act and reported (https://detne.ws/1PJwmoH ) that businesses and government-owned properties owe $41 million compared with $26 million for homes, but only 680 were shut off in 2015.
Neighborhood activists say residents have unfairly borne the brunt of a two-year shut-off campaign on delinquent accounts.
“They don’t get threats. They don’t get shut-off notices. They get to dispute their bills,” Maureen Taylor, state chairwoman of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, said of business customers. “When we try to dispute a bill, we still get shut off.”
At its peak last fall, the city averaged 2,000 residential shut-offs per week, records show.
Gary Brown, who in October became director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, acknowledged that the city has focused the shut-off campaign almost entirely on residents. He said large unpaid commercial bills are his “first priority now.”
Since January, the city has sued several delinquent businesses, including apartment complexes. Two customer service agents are working exclusively on collecting from 10,000 delinquent non-residential accounts, Brown said. Those that don’t pay will be shut off, he said.
“I got in here and there was one tool being used: shut-offs,” Brown said. “Now, I’m trying to use more tools and change the business practices. We are going to go after those with the biggest bills.”
Assistance programs for residential customers have increased. The program of residential shut-offs was suspended in the winter and will continue when the weather warms.
Renea Robinson, a single mother of four young children who works two jobs, has lived without water for six months after the house she rented for seven years went into foreclosure because the landlord didn’t pay taxes or the $5,000 water bill.
She said that she spends three hours a day and more than $100 per week buying bottled water.
“I worry all the time, but the only thing I can do is keep moving forward,” said Robinson, 30. “I’m not the type to give up.”
Within a half mile of her house, a warehouse owes $29,000 in delinquent water bills, city records show, while at least four other businesses nearby have delinquencies of $4,000 or more. None has been disconnected, according to the newspaper’s review.
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Information from: The Detroit News, https://detnews.com/
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