Thousands of people in Flint, Michigan, could face foreclosure because of unpaid water bills, despite the fact that many residents won’t even touch the water.
The city warned 8,000 Flint homeowners that they could get slapped with tax liens if they don’t pay, according to the local Fox affiliate. Failure to pay a lien could eventually result in foreclosure.
A spokesperson for Flint Mayor Karen Weaver did not immediately respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.
Flint became a symbol of water infrastructure woes in the U.S. after mismanagement by the city and state contaminated the water with lead, a deadly neurotoxin. The federal government declared an emergency in January 2016, but the city’s water has only recently begun to meet federal standards.
And the fiscal pressures that pushed Flint to look for a cheaper water source in 2014, which led to the contamination, haven’t gone away. The city is desperate for revenue, and the tax lien warnings come after the city started sending water cutoff notices in March.
“We have to have revenue coming in, so we can’t ... give people water at the tap and not get revenue coming in to pay those bills,” a spokesman for the city’s Treasury Department told Fox66 on Tuesday.
Foreclosures due to unpaid utility bills do happen. Laws in all 50 states allow local governments to sell properties through the tax lien foreclosure process, according to the National Consumer Law Center.
Thanks to a measure passed by the Michigan legislature, Flint last year gave residents discounts on their water bills, which are among the very highest in the nation. The discount ended this year.
The U.S. Congress passed legislation giving Flint nearly $100 million to replace its lead pipes, a process the city estimates could take until 2020. Although the city is synonymous with lead-tainted water, it is now one of the only municipalities making an effort to get the lead out.
Millions of pipes made from the deadly neurotoxin, which can cause miscarriages and infant brain damage, remain in use in cities across the country after they were installed decades ago. Federal regulations allow utilities to deliver lead-contaminated water to household taps, which is basically why the Flint water crisis happened.
Samples from residents’ homes show lead levels in Flint meet federal standards, but officials have yet to tell people it’s safe to drink the water.
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