Only 17,000

Despite the loudly expressed objections of every city councilmember, editorial writer, and... well.. pretty much everybody in town, the Sewerage and Water Board is going to resume shutting off people's water next month. Probably they will start at Joe Giarrusso's house.

The announcement follows a letter the New Orleans City Council sent Friday, urging the Sewerage & Water Board "to reconsider its plan to shut off water until complete confidence in the (utility's) billing processes has been restored." The letter, which Councilman Joe Giarrusso penned, followed a day-long City Council meeting Tuesday at which all six council members present said they did not support resuming shut-offs.

"We understand that the (Sewerage & Water Board) has critical funding shortfalls and share the valid concern of increasing the agency's revenue," said Giarrusso, who chairs the City Council's public works committee. "Moreover, we understand the importance of increasing the fund balance and ensuring (Sewerage & Water Board) has the proper resources to serve the community."

Don't worry, though. This action will only affect about 17,000 people.

In its news release, the utility reiterated that shut-offs would only apply to the roughly 17,000 customers who have not formally disputed their bills and are more than 60 days late on unpaid balances totaling more $50. Those 17,000 customers mark about 12 percent of the city's roughly 136,000 customers and collectively owe more than $21.8 million, the news release states.

Thanks to S&WB's as yet unresolved issues with its billing software, many of these so-called delinquencies are just very confused residents trying to figure out what they actually even owe much less how to go about "formally disputing" it.  It's hard to imagine how shutting off service to that many people is going to accomplish.  Maybe they just want to bring the water pressure up a bit before the next boil order happens.