Brockton Woman Settles $100K Water Bill With City
BROCKTON (CBS) - For Ayanna YanceyCato, using her faucet feels almost liberating.
For almost two years she's been fighting a water bill so outrageous it exceeded that of a local Walmart. Back in 2009 she got a number bills totaling over $100,000.
The incredible sum came after the Water Department calculated she'd used almost a half a million gallons of water over a 12 year period.
WBZ-TV's Diana Perez reports
First it blamed a leak, then claimed her oak tree was sucking it all up.
But Ayanna knew better. Her math showed she owed more like $3,400.
In 2010 thousands of Brockton homeowners in the same boat as Ayanna rallied at City Hall. Eventually her bill was reduced to $17,000, but a lien was put on her home when she refused to pay up.
On Tuesday she finally got some relief. Just before a planned court hearing, the city offered Ayanna a settlement, pay the $3,400 and all will be forgotten, including that lien.
Ayanna says the bottom line is she won her fight and for that she's grateful. But she is unhappy with how long it took for the city to realize it was wrong.
And she says she's disappointed that Brockton's Mayor didn't do more to help her and the other homeowners going through this.
