Baltimore oversight panel hears WACA report as staff and system gaps slow dispute processing

Council President Z. Cohen on Friday convened the first meeting of Baltimore City Council's oversight committee for the Office of Water Advocacy and Customer Appeals (WACA), approving her own nomination as chair and pressing the new office and the Department of Public Works (DPW) on backlogs, data access and implementation of earlier recommendations.

WACA Chief R. Anthony Mills told the committee the office, which opened intake in September 2023, has received 371 disputes, with 72 active cases and 51 closed. "The total amount to date of the determinations made is $1,310,000.00; that will be returned to customer accounts," Mills said, and added the value of cases not granted is roughly $700,000 to $750,000. He cautioned that large adjustments often reflect backdating and normalization of bills rather than immediate cash refunds.

Why it matters: The office was created by the Water Equity and Accountability Act to provide a neutral intermediary to investigate billing disputes, produce determinations grounded in city code and guide customers through appeal steps. Committee members said WACA's work matters as water and sewer rates rise and affordability concerns grow across Baltimore.

Mills described a tiered triage system: Tier 1 investigations aim for completion in about three weeks, Tier 2 may take three to four months, and Tier 3 can exceed four months. He said some high-dollar "outlier" cases drove the large adjustment totals, including a shopping center in South Baltimore that required an $884,000 normalization after investigators reassigned meters, and a school whose legacy agreement was honored after documentation surfaced during a billing-platform change.

Council President Cohen pressed Mills on implementation of WACA recommendations, noting Mills reported 11 of 69 recommendations are implemented or in progress (about 16%). Mills and DPW representatives said that figure can obscure recommendations under discussion or being worked into standard operating procedures. Latoya Curtis, chief of staff for DPW, told the committee some items cannot be implemented immediately because they require billing-system changes or additional operational context.

"It's not that we have not accepted all the recommendations," Curtis said. "Some things are already being implemented or reviewed; others require system or policy changes that take time."

Several council members raised resource concerns. Councilmember Jermaine Jones and Inspector General Isabel Cummings emphasized the numerical challenge of the current queue. Mills said WACA currently has four staff and asked for additional advocates, a data-collection tool to replace manual processes, and dedicated confidential office space.

Mills estimated adding four to six staff would substantially reduce the backlog and described steps WACA is taking to refine processes and assign an executive fellow to tackle Tier 1 cases first.

Data access and investigative process were a focus. Deputy Comptroller Tim Goldsby asked what information WACA can view directly; Mills said the office has back-office access to the billing system (UMAX) and access to CityWorks but sometimes must request mass downloads from other teams rather than pull them directly, which can slow investigations.

On customer pathways, Mills said customers can come to WACA directly, be referred after a DPW customer-service interaction, or appeal to the Environmental Control Board (ECB). He said denial letters typically direct customers to WACA and that the office also receives disputes directly from elected officials and even state legislators.

Councilmember Paris Gray raised tenant access to billing information and proposed legislation to let tenants see water bills to confirm charges passed on by landlords. Curtis said DPW does not currently track whether landlords pass charges to tenants without paying their own bills and that tenant access policies are changing; Mills said Water for All applications require documentation that shows a tenant is responsible for payment.

Public testimony emphasized enrollment, debt relief and re-enrollment: Jorge Aguilar of Food & Water Watch and members of the Baltimore Right to Water Coalition urged stronger implementation of Water for All's debt-forgiveness provisions and broader outreach; Cortland Merkel of Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service and Jamie Lee of the University of Baltimore urged more staffing and better enrollment support, noting an estimated 11% annual reapplication rate for Water for All applicants.

What the committee asked for next: Council President Cohen requested a list of WACA recommendations showing which are implemented, in progress or not yet started and asked WACA and DPW to provide additional case-level details on the high-dollar outliers and the value of disputes. Mills committed to returning the requested information by the end of the week for certain items and to providing processing-time data and referral-source breakdowns at the next meeting.

The committee announced its next meeting for March 16, 2026, at 4 p.m. in City Council Chambers and adjourned after a voice vote.

Quotes: "The total amount to date of the determinations made is $1,310,000.00; that will be returned to customer accounts," Mills said. Council President Z. Cohen said oversight was important to ensure the office "is truly safeguarding the public's interest." DPW's Latoya Curtis said some recommendations require system or billing changes and are therefore slower to implement.

Next steps: WACA and DPW will supply the committee with a recommendation-implementation list, case detail on major adjustments, processing-time metrics for completed cases and a referral-source breakdown ahead of the next meeting.