With the City of Highland Park, Mich., on the losing end of 10 years worth of litigation with the Great Lakes Water Authority over unpaid water and sewer bills and $19 million hanging in the balance, Mayor Glenda McDonald asked the city council to approve petitioning the governor to allow the city to file for chapter 9 bankruptcy, ClickonDetroit.com reported. The legal road has run out for the city, and the millions of dollars it owes the GLWA are about to come due. “GLWA is asking to be able to turn off the water ‘This isn’t the case’ and put a levy on our properties,” said McDonald. Highland Park has a court date Thursday (April 20) in Wayne County Circuit Court and is so concerned a levy will be applied that the mayor and the city’s attorneys feel a bankruptcy filing is the only way to prevent it from happening. According to the city’s numbers, a levy on property taxes for the unpaid $19 million would increase property taxes threefold.
