Water Bills

The 13-member work group learned about five different governance models then voted to consider three.

One of the ideas being floated is changing the governance structure to a Regional Water Authority.

Much of the meeting was spent reviewing the history of the service agreement that has the city and county sharing a drinking water and sanitary sewer system.

This massive bill has accrued because, while the housing authority has been paying some of its water bill to the city it has not been paying them in full, staff from both the housing authority and the Department of Public Works told the inspector general’s office.

Under the state program requirements, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works is required to allocate payments as bill credits to customer accounts while also waiving late fees and interest penalties.

Baltimore County will also pay the city $2.1 million to reimburse the public works department for water delivery unpaid by county ratepayers in the last two financial years.

On today's Midday with the Mayor, Tom Hall questions Mayor Scott about some key issues facing the city, from reducing gun violence and adding new police districts to improving water quality and new ARPA fund allocations.

Residents won’t have to rely on mailed water bills, which have not been reliable in the past.

The latest rate increase is lower than in recent years, officials said.

A new audit says DPW does not have systems to collect delinquent bills and does not take proactive measures to increase water revenue collections