UPDATE: WATER-BILL COLLECTION CHANGES

Web Exclusive: Dec. 19, 2007 — The New York City Department of Environmental Protection can now sell private investors liens that it has issued on buildings with unpaid water bills. The City Council passed the legislation, which also includes new consumer protections, as a compromise to prevent a threatened January increase in water rates.

Aside from allowing water-lien sales, the legislation, arrived at after one-and-a-half-years of negotiation, updates DEP billing procedures and installs a level of safeguards minimize impact on homeowners. It also creates an ombudsman's office to assist consumers in lien-sales issues and to conduct dispute hearings.

Among other provisions of the new ruling, the DEP will not sell water liens issued to single-family residences, low-income seniors and people with disabilities. It also creates what the Council calls "a safety-net referral program"; mandates the installation of automated meter-reading (AMR) systems by December 2010; and provides the Council with quarterly performance reports.

The DEP will also now cease invoicing residents and businesses for unbilled-for charges that are more than two years old.

"[T]he New York City Council approved legislation to authorize the sale of standalone liens on multifamily residential properties that are seriously delinquent in the payment of their water-and-sewer bills," the city's Water Board said in a prepared statement. "The Board is confident that the lien-sale authority, together with other enforce­ment programs and an expanded Payment Incentive Plan, will generate the necessary revenue to meet the water utility's needs for the remainder of this fiscal year."

Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said in a separate statement that, "This agreement strikes the right balance between the need for a fair collection policy with the need to protect for the most vulnerable New Yorkers from losing their homes."

— Frank Lovece