Anger Spills Over At Water Bill Forum

Perhaps Fresh Meadows homeowner Casey Tawfik described the mood at Wednesday night’s  in Holliswood best.

“I’m angry, and my neighbors are angry,” Tawfik said. “I want them to fix this.”

The object of Tawfik’s ire is a small grey box installed at his home last May. The device is a wireless water meter reader introduced throughout the five boroughs by the city Department of Environmental Protection, which hailed the new system as a cost-efficient replacement for the unreliable meters of old.

"Meters are like people, they tend to slow down. Newer meters are going to be more accurate,” said the DEP deputy commissioner for the bureau of customer services, Joseph Singleton, at last night’s forum .

That statement sent many water and sewer ratepayers gathered in the gymnasium at P.S. 178-Holliswood School howling.

“There has been no leak, yet there is an escalation in usage,” Tawfik said. “How is it that you’re telling us that it isn’t a problem with the new meters?”

According to Tawfik, his water bill “practically doubled” since DEP installed the wireless meter at his home last May.

In response, Singleton told angry ratepayers that the city agency would come to test the new meters for a charge of $180 — an amount that would be refunded only if the device was found to be defective.

However, the $180 retest or an offer of free consultation regarding water usage with DEP employees in the school’s cafeteria, did little to placate property owners suffering ‘sticker shock’ from month-to-month water bill increases of 100 percent or more.

“Ever since these water meters have been installed, the bills have been erratic,” said Floral Park homeowner Shirley Pineiro.

Councilman James Gennaro, D-Fresh Meadows, who with Councilman Mark Weprin, D-Oakland Gardens, called last night’s meeting, said he wasn’t convinced the new water meters were to blame for higher water bills.

"No system is perfect, no agency is perfect, no technology is perfect,” Gennaro said.

Meanwhile, Mina Farah of Richmond Hill sat with a DEP employee in the school cafeteria to investigate a water bill for her two-family home that rose from $200 last June to $700 in November.

“I know the city is in big trouble,” Farah said. “Wherever they can get money, that’s what they are going to do.”

Other ratepayers also noted the city’s dire fiscal situation as the possible culprit for higher water usage charges and a more aggressive approach towards collection of unpaid bills, including collection notices and robo-calls.

, D-Little Neck, blasted the city’s Water Board — not solely for the new water usage meters, but for annual double-digit rate increases and for allocating funds for other purposes.

"Money from water bills should pay for water, not other things. That's what property taxes are for,” Weprin said.