With the return of water shutoffs, homeowners are paying up

Homeowners have been heeding the city’s warning to pay up on their water bills or face their service being shutoff. If you are having trouble paying you water bills, there is a helping hand.

By Charles Sercombe
For about two years, during the height of the covid pandemic, the state forbade communities from shutting off water service because of non-payment.
Those days have been over for awhile now, and Hamtramck was poised to turn off water to about 500 households.
But since word got around that shutoffs were coming, Interim City Manager Max Garbarino said that most of those homeowners have ponied up what they owe.
Now, he said, there are just over 100 households holding out.
There’s still a helping hand available for those struggling to meet water bills.
Wayne County is offering a program called WRAP (Water Residential Assistance Program) that helps financially-stressed households.
To qualify, your income has to be at or below 200% of the federal poverty line (that would be $25,760 for one person).
WRAP offers a one-time first payment up to $625 when you enroll, and gives you a $25-per-billing-cycle credit, up to a total of $1,500 per year total assistance. There are further benefits as well.
Call (313) 386-WRAP (9727) for more info, or to enroll.
In other updates, Garbarino said the city’s Community and Economic Department is moving “full speed ahead” in selling city lots.
A number have already been auctioned off. The purchase of a lot costs $10,000 and then you must develop it into a housing unit, either for the owner to live in or to rent out.
Ever think about law enforcement as a career?
Garbarino said there is still an urgent need for police department dispatchers, reserve officers and regular officers.
You can checkout the job positions on the city’s website under the “Information Center” tab.
He said that, for those who become a reserve officer and remain on the job for at least one year, the city will pay to enroll reserves in a police academy to qualify them to become regular officers.
In labor contract news, city hall employees in the local AFSCME union now have a three-year contract that gives them 6 percent salary increases for each of the three years.
Garbarino said that city hall employees “are the most important asset” of the city.
All of the city’s four unions now have current contracts.
Posted Oct. 21, 2022