Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said that residents with unpaid water bills now have 21 more days to pay or set up a payment plan as the city reassesses its policy on how to deal with a $90 million backlog in unpaid bills, Reuters reported yesterday. The bankrupt city attracted unwanted international attention earlier this summer when it accelerated water shutoffs, turning off water to 7,210 accounts in June as it struggles to return to financial health. About 90,000 residential and business water accounts are still delinquent in the Detroit area, most of them in the city of 689,000 people, others in surrounding areas. The controversy made its way into the city's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings last month when Judge Steven Rhodes, who is presiding over the city's plan to exit chapter 9 bankruptcy, criticized the city, saying that the mass shutoffs were bringing "bad publicity for the city it doesn't need." In response, emergency manager Kevyn Orr handed control of Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department to Mayor Mike Duggan who promised a more streamlined, and fair, response to those with delinquent bills.
