Yesterday’s NY Daily News included several pages of properties with city liens against them. What was different about this set is that many of the properties are there for unpaid water bills.
Apparently, about 18 percent of the city’s water customers don’t pay their bills. And that’s no drop in the bucket; collectively they owe some $600 million.
A new law, signed early this year, lets the city impose liens that can be sold to collection agencies. As a last resort, those agencies can foreclose on a deadbeat's property for unpaid bills.
"What was going on for a long time was similar to four people going out to dinner, and one of the four people then goes to the men's room or ladies' room and never comes back. So what that meant is that the three that were left were left with the bill for the fourth person," said Councilman James Vacca of the Bronx.
Owners of single-family homes don’t face the new lien approach nor do those who get tax exemptions for seniors, the disabled and the poor.
