Water shutoffs for nearly 1,000 Hamtramck residents begins April 14

Nearly one thousand people in Hamtramck received an urgent notice to pay their water bills.

On Monday, residents stood in long lines at City Hall to avoid getting their service shut off.

"Now I received a letter, a shutoff notice," one resident said.

The shutoff notices were mailed out to residents who owe more than $250 on their water bills. The letters were sent out April 2  to nearly 1,000 of their 6,000 customers warning shutoffs start now.

"I got it in the mail Saturday. I got a letter stating that they were going to cut my services off on the 13th," said Sheila Allen. "Which is a day and a half." Allen is upset because she was just notified of the shutoff, and says she had been on a payment plan.

"I can't afford for them telling me I have to pay $800 right now," she said.

But City Manager Katrina Powell says if people have defaulted on their payment plans, they will now owe the entire amount.  She says they are referring residents in need to other resources.

"We will shut you off if you don't pay your water bill," Powell said. "The city can't afford to keep footing the bill for people using water. We have to pay Detroit for our water, so we need to get paid in return by our residents."

The shutoffs will begin Tuesday. Those who owe the most will be shutoff first. The city encourages everyone who got a notice to come to City Hall to settle the outstanding bill.