Remote villages across the globe have now transformed into sprawling metropolises with hundreds of thousands if not millions of residents. As urban populations skyrocketed, the infrastructure of these cities became more robust and effective. Land developers began constructing more residential and commercial areas to accommodate a city’s flourishing population. Yet, these changes have spurred systemic issues that affect all city dwellers.
In America, New York City and Los Angeles are two of the country’s most populous cities. Both have stunning attractions and landscapes to boast about, but there are drawbacks to living in the country’s biggest cities.
New York City isn’t only known for its skyscrapers and hustling culture. The Big Apple has now become infamous for its fragmented and inefficient state services. As the number of residents rose, the accuracy and simplicity of using utility systems plummeted. Water and sewage are the most commonly overcharged resources, and other taxing systems are just as broken.
In the mid 90s, water and sewer tax responsibilities shifted from the city’s finance department to the Department of Environmental Protection. This shift resulted in a new billing system that would be the first of many changes to put residents into a pinch. As the years passed, inaccurate charges became more common for residents and commercial businesses.
In 2018, a city audit of water bills revealed that some of New York City’s biggest businesses were undercharged. These mistakes spanned across multiple years and resulted in about two million undercharged accounts. While this incident occurred because several properties were incorrectly labeled as exempt and plumbers installed meters without providing the agency with correct charging permits, the problem has gotten out of hand. In addition to these scenarios, malfunctioning or broken meters can also lead to billing errors, and millions of these machines exist in New York City.
With over 8.3 million residents, the city should have created a more effective system. However, New York City has a very long list of priorities. Some of which rank much higher than inaccurate utility billing. Crime and homelessness are two epidemics that are front of mind for city officials and residents, unlike their monthly water bills.
Regardless of how overlooked inaccurate billing for water, sewage, and even property taxes is, someone must help businesses and individuals with this issue. If not, they will never be able to regain the massive amounts of capital lost to a data entry or meter monitoring system.
In 1998, New York Water Management Inc set out to solve this problem. Since then, they’ve saved clients almost $600 million dollars. The company uncovers money that’s leaking away through water bill and property tax audits, store billing and monitoring, as well as installing or repairing meters. These services are not a cure-all for the constantly fluctuating labyrinth of rules and regulations set by the city, but they make a real difference.
President and Founder of New York Water Management Inc, Mark J. Schwartz, founded the company after his experience in the mid 90s. While he was working for a citywide program to replace toilets for free in landlord-owned apartment buildings, Mark encountered many owners who were confused about their high bills. He recognized that the same agency running the toilet rebate program was handling water and sewage billing, but the charges were off by thousands of dollars. Mark thought this error would be short-term, but over 25 years later he is still solving billing issues every day.
“Since I founded New York Water Management Inc at the tail end of the 90s, the city has made lots of changes to how it records water usage and bills consumers,” says Schwartz, “In 2000, surcharges were imposed almost overnight and that caused thousands of building owners to contact us and ask how they could dispute the charges. Sixteen years later, attributed consumption charges were introduced to make sure you cure the violations that you have. This creates chaos in an already disorganized process and allows the city to charge much more than your actual consumption. All of these complexities go unnoticed because many people aren’t paying attention to their bills, and that’s what our company is here to help with. We resolve violations, fix penalties, and stop the billing. We work overtime to get you the money you’re owed.”
Although water billing isn’t at the top of most people’s minds, it can leave a dent in your wallet. Keeping track of your water bills and ensuring you aren’t being overcharged is extremely important, especially if you are a landlord or business owner.
New York Water Management has achieved several accolades since its inception, including completing over $50 million dollars of reductions in 2017 alone. Due to the extensive disarray of the city’s billing systems, Mark envisions his business staying relevant to New Yorkers. The problem may not resolve itself for decades, so the company is committed to providing services that relieve the pressure and frustration of these erroneous foundations.
