Getting it right in New York

It's no good trying to calculate a water or sewer bill if the underlying data is incorrect. A recently published audit of New York City's Department of Environmental Protection shows that the DEP still fails to ensure that it properly identifies properties that should pay water and sewer bills, and in some cases the failure goes back 15 years.

In 2005, The New York Times reported that about 231,000 water customers in New York City were late paying their bills — some by just a few months, others by decades. In all, these water delinquents owe the city more than $625 million in overdue bills and penalties.

Houses and apartments accounted for 90 percent of those unpaid bills, but the city absorbed the huge losses and passed on the costs to those who paid, rather than risking the political consequences of being seen as hardhearted.

The DEP is now starting to resume shut-offs for unpaid water bills.