After appointed city manager illegally jacked up prices, Flint paid the highest water rates

[KamaAina]

in America.

http://boingboing.net/2016/02/23/after-appointed-city-manager-i.html

The tainted water that poisoned an entire generation of children in Flint, MI, was the most expensive water in America.

At $864/year/household, Flint's water rates were nearly double the national average. The price rose to its heights when Flint's corporate manager -- appointed by Republican governor Rick Snyder, who gave the CEO the power to override elected officials -- illegally imposed a new tariff on the city's water bills whose surplus was used to fund the city's other operations....

A Flint lawyer who sued to reduce the rates says they are high in part because city officials and state-appointed emergency managers have tapped water and sewer money for other needs.

"They've been using that money improperly for years to fund the general operations of the city," said Valdemar L. Washington, who has been battling the rate increases in court since 2012. The city's sewer fund had a balance of $36 million in 2006 but was running a $23-million deficit by 2012, Washington said.

[brush]

1. Similar to those crooked officials in Ferguson, Mo who used traffic tickets . . .

on black residents to fund the city, their own paychecks even.

Just another racket run on the powerless, with a racial taint.

They should all be thrown in jail.

[tabasco]

2. All those extra vitamins and minerals cost money!