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Flint to pressure water customers to pay their overdue bills

Steve Carmody
/
Michigan Radio
Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley says this is about more than paying old bills. He says it’s about charging what it costs to operate the city’s water system.";s:

Flint officials will soon be more aggressive about getting people and businesses to pay their water bills.

Right now, the Flint water department is dealing with 30 to 40 water main breaks at any one time. That’s primarily the fault of the brutal winter weather.

But the water department has another problem and it has to do with inflow of cash.

Emergency manager Darnell Earley says the city is going to start putting more pressure on homeowners and businesses with delinquent water bills.

“Obviously the largest ones are the commercial,” says Earley. “And so those are the ones that we’re going to begin the enhanced enforcement payment on those bills.”

That enforcement will include shutting the water off.

Earley says this is about more than paying old bills.  He says it’s about charging what it costs to operate the city’s water system.

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Public since 2005. Steve previously worked at public radio and television stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and also has extensive experience in commercial broadcasting.
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