Editorial: Water shut-offs aimed at scofflaws, not needy

[FrodosPet]

Who cares about facts when it is MUCH more fun to be outraged?

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140701/OPINION01/307010002

Detroit’s water department is embarked on a delicate and difficult endeavor — cutting off the water of those who haven’t paid their bills in months. Inevitably, such an undertaking risks hurting some people who can least afford it.

But it is necessary. Unpaid water bills have become an epidemic in Detroit, and are threatening the viability of the entire water and sewerage system.

Fully half of the water customers in Detroit have stopped paying their bills. That means the other half of customers who are paying must cover the delinquency of their neighbors. It’s a big reason Detroiters were hit with an 8.7 percent increase in their water bills this year.

~ snip ~

Once the shut-off notices started going out, the payments began coming in. In May, the water department sent out 47,000 shut-off notices, but only had to cut off 4,500 meters, and a majority of those were in vacant buildings.

~ snip ~

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I guess if someone wants to use 20,000 gallons a month - not fix leaky plumbing, etc - that is their human right. The rest of us need to pony up to protect that right.

To maintain a huge system like DSW - it takes money. Equipment needs to be fixed. And wages (THE biggest part of the budget) HAVE to be paid - unless we are advocating financially screwing the people doing a hard, soggy, dirty job bringing us fresh water and washing away our shit.

There ARE programs to help the truly needy. But talking about that diminishes the "Oh, you dirty greedy assholes" quotient, so I guess that little must be ignored in favor of "One percenters want to kill everyone in Detroit".

[Eric J in MN]

1. Providing water is a responsibility of government.

Whether that responsibility means profit, breaking even, or losing money.

The money to run the water system has to come from somewhere, but the Water Dept doesn't have to be financially independent; the money can come from general taxation.

People who have money for their water bills but don't pay can be sued and have their wages garnished the same as someone who doesn't pay any other tax; shutting off a family's water shouldn't be the punishment for the head-of-household not paying the water bill.

[FrodosPet]

2. It costs $$$ to sue people and garnish wages

At a desperate time of my life, I thought about going into the judgements recovery business (yes, there is an industry based on that).

It's a hard and expensive process, and you STILL get burned a lot. Lots of ways to hide income and to hide your employment.

If nothing else - turning off the water to vacant houses is a good thing, right?

[Eric J in MN]

3. Yes, they should shut off water to vacant houses.

It costs money to deal with people not paying taxes. But if Detroit has a system for dealing with people who don't pay property taxes and income taxes, then it can apply that system to people who don't pay their water bills.

[rdking647]

5. they have a system if you dont pay your property taxes

its seizing the property and eviction.

[FrodosPet]

6. Which in Detroit leads to house sits until it becomes a health hazard

Caring about the most feared and hated place on Earth, the City of Detroit, is exhausting.

[HereSince1628]

4. Double the cost of water service in an economy with huge unemployment

and call the folks falling behind names.