Who wants to pay for toxic water? That’s the position many residents of Flint, Michigan find themselves in today. With 8,000 residents having past due water bills, the city is laying down an ultimatum: pay up or face strict liens on their homes. From NBC 25:
Thousands of people in Flint are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure if they don't pay up on their water bills. After recently putting out shuts off notices the city is now back to threatening tax liens on people's homes.
"I got scared, for probably the first time since this all started this actually scared me," said Melissa Mays, who is a mother and water activist who lives in Flint.
Failure to pay could allow the city to eventually foreclose on her home. The city is also in a tough position, they desperately need the revenue.
"We have to have revenue coming in, so we can't give people revenue, I mean excuse me, give people water at the tap and not get revenue coming in to pay those bills," said Al Mooney, City of Flint Treasury Department.
Mooney says the shut offs are already working in the city's favor. Last month Flint brought in nearly $3 million for water. That is nearly $1 million more from the month prior when they only collected $2.1 million.
Meanwhile, the toxic water problem in Flint will not likely be fixed until 2020.