It seems rather lopsided and unfair.
Joel Kurth of The Detroit News reports:
Detroit last year shut water service to 23,300 homes — the equivalent of every household in the city of Pontiac — but left the taps running at thousands of businesses that owe millions of dollars, city documents show.
Businesses and government-owned properties owe nearly twice as much as residences, $41 million compared with $26 million for homes, but only 680 were shut off in 2015, according to records obtained by The Detroit News through the Freedom of Information Act.
It’s a discrepancy that outrages neighborhood activists, who say residents have unfairly borne the brunt of a two-year shut-off campaign on delinquent accounts. Some of the biggest debts are on government-owned properties such as the Detroit Housing Commission, the Detroit Reentry Center prison, Belle Isle and the city’s golf courses, according to the records.
The city vows to change that.
“There’s no way we can focus on residential accounts when we have such large arrearages in commercial. They’re my first priority now,” said Gary Brown, head of the water department.