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DETROIT (WJBK) - Laverne Simpson is the bishop of Affirming Love Ministries on Oakland Avenue in Detroit.
It is a small church with limited resources and a water bill that has spiraled out of control.
"The water bill is up to $4,185 and we have no idea how it's gotten this high," she said. "We're looking at a bill in about April and May at $41.52 I think it was. And then when we got to June, the bill jumped up to $500."
And it just kept going up. With just one sink and one toilet, the church doesn't use that much water.
"We're just trying to figure out how did this happen - where is water usage coming from," Simpson said.
She tried contacting the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department several times and could not get anyone to help her.
"I didn't what else to do so I thought I would reach out to FOX 2 to see if anyone can help us," she said. "Help us resolve it or helps us pay a $4,000 bill. We need some help."
Gary Brown oversees the water department and he began looking at the case after we contacted him
"The status of this is the bill is frozen until we figure out whether our meter is working accurately or there is a leak," Brown said. "If they have a leak, we are going to find it, and we are going to find it and help them get it fixed. Then we'll work out some arrangement to deal with that balance and the status of the account."
The water department plans to have someone at the church Friday afternoon.