A water bill dispute has led to dozens of families without water at Cotten Apartments.
The families, who pay for water, electricity and cable with their monthly rent, have been without water since Thursday morning when the city disconnected water service to the apartment complex.
“We’re having to carry water in a five-gallon bucket just so we can flush the commode,” said Cotten Apartment resident Joyce Taylor. “There’s no water for doing dishes, taking a shower, or anything. It’s been six days like this and I don’t like to live this way.”
Taylor says she has a second-grader living in her home. Her next-door neighbor has three children and is pregnant with a fourth.
“I would leave if I could, but I don’t have the means to move anywhere else,” said Taylor. “I just paid $585 rent on Wednesday and the water was cut off Thursday. It’ll be the first of the month before I have any more money.”
Cotten Apartments owner Evelyn Cotten says a $10,000 water bill is at the source of the dispute. She says she refuses to pay the bill because it resulted from a water leak that was caused by the city.
According to Cotten Apartments maintenance supervisor Brian Looper, the city released thousands of gallons of water from its nearby 1-million-gallon water storage tank off Bybee Branch Road about three months ago. That water flooded one of the apartment buildings to the extent it caused the foundation to shift and rupture one of the main water lines. Looper said the flooding forced all the people who lived in four units to move.
In addition to the immediate water damage that was visible, the foundation shift caused an unseen water line to break. That is what caused the outrageous water bill, Looper said.
“This is the city’s fault for flooding us out and they won’t even work with us on the bill,” said Looper. “They could at least take off the sewer charge, which is half of the bill. If they took off the sewer charge and showed they were willing to work with us, she might go down there and pay it.”
According to city administrator Bill Brock, water was released from the water tank as part of routine maintenance and inspection.
Brock said this sort of water tank draining is done periodically and it’s never caused a problem in that area before. He is not sure why it flooded the apartments this time.
“We drained it and we did some damage to one or two of her apartments,” said Brock. “Insurance has settled that complaint.”
Cotten said the insurance settlement was for $5,000, which is only half of the water bill. She said that doesn’t cover damage to her property, or the loss of rent since those tenants were forced to move. She said she is not cashing the $5,000 settlement check because it’s not fair compensation for her damages.
“This is nothing personal against the people who live here,” said Cotten. “I don’t like it that they don’t have water. If they want to leave, I will prorate their rent and they can leave. If they owe me money, they can leave and not owe me anything.”
The Cotten Apartment office operates on a separate meter and still has water. Residents are being allowed to shower at the office if they choose and they are being allowed to fill any water buckets they have at the office.
Cotten said she doesn’t see a speedy resolution to this problem if the city refuses to adjust her bill. She said she does not have a time estimate about when residents may once again have water.
Brock says the city does not discuss water bills with anyone but the customer. As far as policy, Brock said the city begins to look at terminating service if a water bill is 60 days past due.
“This is a serious situation and we don’t like it,” said Brock. “We work with people all the time and we’d be more than happy to work with anyone who is willing to come up here and talk to us.”