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New Yorkers owe $1B in unpaid water bills, as city officials promote debt forgiveness program
https://gothamist.com/news/new-yorkers-owe-1b-in-unpaid-water-bills-as-city-officials-promote-debt-forgiveness-program
About $1.2 billion worth of unpaid water bills is threatening the operations of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the agency responsible for sewage management and flood protection.
At a City Council budget hearing on Tuesday, the agency’s commissioner Rohit Aggarwala testified that about 100,000 building owners haven’t paid a bill in more than six months. The combined debt alone of this group amounts to nearly $1 billion, he said. During the pandemic, NYC's water bill debt ballooned by 50%. But this recent trend isn’t restricted to the five boroughs; cities in states like New Jersey and Oregon also reported shortfalls in water bill collection.
In an effort to collect unpaid tabs and avoid rate hikes, the mayor’s office announced the launch of a three-month water bill amnesty program at the end of January. The plan offers relief to nearly 200,000 customers by forgiving up to 100% of the interest owed on their unpaid water bills if they pay just a portion. Roughly 85% of these debtors are residential building owners.