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Public and advocates urge more WAKA staff, faster credits and debt relief
Summary
Community groups and nonprofit representatives told the committee WAKA needs more customer advocates, faster implementation of determinations, auto-enrollment for eligible families and attention to nonprofits hit by high infrastructure fees; they asked the council to fund staff and ensure WAKA's independence.
Public witnesses at the April 27 hearing urged the council and mayor to augment WAKA’s staff and speed the administrative steps that convert determinations into actual account adjustments.
Mary Grant of Food & Water Watch and the Baltimore Right to Water Coalition thanked WAKA for its work and urged funding to hire an additional six full-time customer advocates to process the backlog and expand outreach. Grant asked the committee to insist that DPW apply WAKA-determined adjustments promptly after a determination so customers are not left waiting.
Anne Wilson, a resident and volunteer with the same coalition, urged automatic enrollment of eligible households into the Water for All benefit, saying many applicants are paper-based and do not receive email notices prompting them to respond to information requests. Wilson said the city should make enrollment automatic for public-benefits recipients where data-sharing permits.
Shaina Roth Gormley, an attorney with Community Law Center, described nonprofits, senior centers and houses of worship facing large infrastructure fees and bills that threaten tax sale. She said some organizations’ actual water usage is low but they are billed on emergency or suppression meters, producing major liabilities; she asked for WAKA resources to protect these community institutions.
Speakers urged the committee to require concrete steps to shorten the time between WAKA determinations and DPW application of credits, to fund staffing and technology for WAKA, and to consider programmatic remedies, including debt relief or income-based caps on water costs for low-income households.
