This is an old story from #Flint happening in #Detroit

    FLINT, MI -- Flint's #EmergencyFinancialManager is raising the amount of the city's   rental home water service deposit from $100 to $350 beginning March 1. (3 days notice)

By raising the deposit amount, the city is trying to recover its losses from people who don't pay their bills, and cover more of the costs associated with water shutoffs and renters who leave their homes without paying the balance.

"When residents don’t pay their water bill for months at a time, that cost is passed on to those residents who do pay, and that’s just not fair," emergency financial manager Ed Kurtz said in a statement.

The deposit is charged to renters when they move in to a rental home in Flint.

The increased deposit, along with the $75 water-turn-on fee, will create more of a hardship for people on fixed incomes who want to rent a home in the city, said Terry Hanson, executive director of the Genesee Landlords Association.

He said the city should instead be more aggressive in collecting overdue water payments, rather than allowing bills to become more delinquent over time.

"(The higher deposit) will cause more properties to become vacant and more people to leave the city," Hanson predicted. "We are definitely not in favor of it."

Since January 2011, the city has raised its average water and sewer rates more than 110 percent -- increases city officials say were necessary to cover rate hikes from Detroit, the costs of an aging system and increasing legacy costs.

Kurtz has said the city is still evaluating its current water and sewer rates, and will likely announce any rate changes during the budget process in April or May. The city of Detroit recently proposed it would up its charge to Flint by 4.4 percent.

Kurtz's office said there is currently about $2.8 million owed on about 5,000 water deposit affidavits in Flint.

Increasing the water deposit amount will put collection from renters more in line with collection from property owners, he said.

The balance of a property owner's bill is placed as a lien on the property tax roll, but "there is currently no effective system of collecting water affidavits that are not in the property owner's name," the statement says.

The $350 charge is in the "middle range" compared to other Genesee County communities, his office said.

But Hanson said Flint's base rate for water bills is higher than other communities.

With Flint's administrative fees, what the city calls its "readiness-to-serve" charge, the base rate for Flint water bills before water usage is added on is about $54.

A lawsuit against Flint's water rate increases is pending in Genesee County Circuit Court.

Kurtz's office said water shutoffs are usually an effective tool to get residents to pay their overdue bills, but there are still a "large number" of residents who leave their homes without paying.

"The result is an increase to the cost of water for all customers to recover the unpaid balances," he said.
Kristin Longley can be reached at 810-429-5333. You can also follow her on Twitter @KristinLongley or subscribe on Facebook.