DEP Mulls New Tactic For Unpaid Water Bills
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New Yorkers who live in single family homes and have not paid their water bills might want to watch out.
The city's Department of Environmental Protection commissioner is arguing in favor of allowing the city to move ahead with lien sales on delinquent homes.
The city already has the authority to cut off water service to those homes if they don't pay their water bills, but in testimony before at City Council committee, Commissioner Cas Holloway argued it would be cheaper to do a lien sale.
The chair of the Council's finance committee says single family homes should not face lien sales for unpaid water bills.
"They should not be touched because they have a mechanism to get them to pay their water bills. They can terminate their water, they can shut it off. But they claim it costs too much money, there's a whole process. But this is something that should not be in the bill," argued City Councilman Domenic Recchia.
In his testimony, the commissioner said that turning off the water for a single family home is an inefficient way to get New Yorkers to pay their water bills.