Advocates want hearings in disputes on water bills
Struggling customers find new complaint system unsatisfactory
Attorneys for struggling Baltimoreans say the city’s public works department has stripped water customers of a fair process to contest their bills.
They say homeowners could lose their houses over water bills that could be inflated by leaks, faulty meter readings or unexplained spikes in usage.
It’s the latest flap for an agency long plagued by billing errors.
The department says its new appeals process is part of an overhaul aimed at giving customers more information than ever and grievance procedures that are now applied with consistency.
Evelyn Anderson says the new process has her trapped in a frustrating cycle.
The 70-year-old East Baltimore woman opened her mailbox this month to find a tax sale notice for the Ravenwood Avenue rowhouse she has owned since 1975. She is afraid she will lose her home over an unpaid $1,300 water bill.
She said a plumber has told her there are no leaks in the house. But after months going back and forth with public works, she said, the situation remains unresolved.
“I am not supposed to get stressed because I have a bad heart, but I am really frustrated,” Anderson said.
Until October, customers could argue their cases before a hearing office. Now, attorney Charlotte Clarke says, Anderson’s only remaining option for appeal is filling out a complaint form.
“She is trying to take all of the steps,” said Clarke, a staff attorney for St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center.
“It’s a cat-and-mouse game. We should be working together on these issues so she doesn’t lose her home.”
Properties with unresolved bills go to tax sale in May. Clarke said homeowners can spend thousands of dollars on attorneys fees, interest and court costs to keep their houses.
The city sent more than 315 owner-occupied properties to tax sale over unpaid water bills last year.
Legislation before the Maryland General Assembly would block that practice.
Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young has not taken a position on the bill. But he said the city needs to find other ways to address unpaid water bills.
“We are trying to keep people in their homes,” Young said. “I would rather them turn the water off than kick people out of your house.”
Public Works Director Rudolph S. Chow said he stands behind the new appeals process.
In place of informal hearings to seek an adjustment, customers now must fill out a form.
Department officials say the new system is less confusing and more consistent.
Chow said the informal hearings were once the best way customers could make their cases. Now, he said, an assortment of advances makes them unnecessary.
The department has more customer service representatives and sends bills monthly instead of quarterly, allowing problems to be spotted sooner. Old water meters, which did not always operate properly, are being replaced as part of $160 million in upgrades.
Customers may also access a website that shows their hour-by-hour usage, and may receive alerts when there is a spike in water flow.
Chow said a majority of high bills now are due to leaks inside the house, such as from
“Customers have more information available to them more often, so they are better able to realize leaks or correct unexpected usage well in advance of running up a large water bill,” Chow said in a statement.
“Continuing to write off excessive water bills due to leaks is not in the best of interest of the 1.8 million people we serve. Conservation of precious resources such as water through responsible maintenance of interior plumbing is the right thing to do. What we are administering is a sound business practice.”
The agency says it will adjust the amount it records a customer consuming if there is an underground leak, for example, as long as the customer proves that a licensed plumber made a repair.
Officials say they will make other adjustments in other instances, such as accommodating an elderly person who might
Reprieve for underground leaks will be granted only once every two years. Bill adjustments for interior water leaks will be granted only once every three years. Customers may request a water meter test for $95, which is refundable if the meter is found to be faulty.
Customers may call, email or visit the department in person to discuss their bills. Changes to the appeal process were based on a study of what works best in other cities, including New York, Washington and Columbus, Ohio.
Public Works spokesman Jeffrey Raymond said the agency is committed to working with customers to resolve billing problems. The agency says it will research the account, perform inspections when necessary, test the meter and look at historic consumption and daily usage.
“If it is our fault, we will not penalize a customer to have it corrected,” Raymond said.
Mayor Catherine Pugh said the new system has had hiccups. When monthly billing started, for instance, some customers received bogus bills as high as $80,000.
Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said she learned informal hearings had been eliminated when she tried to set one up for a constituent.
She was referred to the complaint form, which can be obtained online, at the department’s offices or requested over the phone.
She is not related to Charlotte Clarke, the St. Ambrose attorney.
“I have been going to informal hearings with constituents for years,” the councilwoman said. “The informal conferences were a chance for people to sit with an impartial judge. They were able to have some of the excessive fees waived down.
“All of a sudden that process disappeared.”
Clarke said she wants the department to restore the hearings to “get back some kind of due process.”
Homeowners facing tax sale for other matters have more rights, advocates said.
Margaret Henn, foreclosure prevention project manager for the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, said citations issued for alleged housing code violations or animal control issues, for example, can be appealed to the Environmental Control Board for a hearing and, eventually, Circuit Court.
“It’s unfair that someone who is facing a water bill problem does not have the ability to go in person and explain their situation” during a hearing, Henn said.
Christina Ochoa, another staff attorney with St. Ambrose, said the situation is especially grave because tax sale notices were sent this month.
She said that the department does not provide enough information about how it conducts the administrative reviews, including who makes the decision and what factors are considered, “which makes us lack confidence in its efficacy,” Ochoa said.
Many jurisdictions do not provide a hearing process to contest a water bill. But Ochoa said Baltimore needs one, given the history of billing errors.
Anderson, the East Baltimore woman, has until May to pay or otherwise resolve her $1,300 bill.
Raymond, the public works spokesman, said her bill was caused by a leak.
If the leak is fixed “then the consumption will be controlled and we can work with the customer on an adjustment” to her bill, Raymond said.
Anderson insists there is no leak. If the department gave her a hearing, her attorney at St. Ambrose said, they could discuss the problem and resolve it.
Councilman Brandon M. Scott said water billing problems are a common complaint.
“The No. 1 constituent issue I have dealt with this month is water bills,” Scott said. “That is definitely typical. It is all water bills all the time.”
