Chicago woman billed $233,000 for water she never used in vacant home with no plumbing
A senior citizen's vacant home in the Back of the Yards neighborhood racked up a staggering $233,000 water bill, despite not having any plumbing for years.
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A senior citizen's vacant home in the Back of the Yards neighborhood racked up a staggering $233,000 water bill, despite not having any plumbing for years.
Eligible homeowners and business owners would be able to have their water bills lowered if they can prove their higher bill is the result of leak in the underground service line.
David Steele got the $5,000 refund he'd been wanting for months, but didn't get an explanation why the city suddenly changed its mind.
Glenn Jones can't sell the vacant house until he figures out the water bill issue with the city.
Through our "Getting Hosed" series on bad water bills, we have found that often communication issues between different city systems have often been the source of the headaches.
Even after David Steele won the first round in his dispute over his bogus water bill, the city figured out a way to hose him again.
The Chicago City Council Finance Committee held a hearing Tuesday with the heads of the Water Management and Finance departments.
A week-by-week log of meter readings showed zero water usage on some entries. Other times, the report came back at 6 million gallons used in a week.
The family knew they had unpaid water charges to settle before selling their three-flat in Roseland, but nothing like the amount they got.
The circumstances vary from case to case, of course, but in short, the pattern involves Chicagoans getting socked with bills for water they didn't use.
"You've got people walking around on fixed income and they can't afford to pay a $500 bill," Burns said. "I would like to see mistakes corrected and I would like to see communication. There's no communication!"
"It's just nuts to me that we have this issue that continues to be reported, on and the city departments are not doing anything about it," Villegas said.
Numerous people whose stories we've reported over the past four years have been getting hosed by bogus bills - often rising into the tens of thousands of dollars.
This did not happen until the CBS 2 Investigators got involved.
Connie Abels has been waiting five years for her hearing.
The homeowner was just being an honest guy and alerted the Chicago Department of Water Management to his unusually low bill.
"The issue with being a city employee is we are obligated to pay any city obligation," said paramedic Lisa Beard.
In Chicago when you die, ComEd shuts off your electricity, and Peoples Gas shuts off your gas. But the city does not stop your water.
Illinois' lead pipe situation is the worst in the country.
Yasser Almanaseer said he has had no luck in getting it fixed.
How does a City of Chicago water bill for $70 turn into a $10,000 tab from one bill to the next?
Getting Hosed, our exposé on Chicago's bad water billing, has saved consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars. So we wanted to know - what happens if you take on the City yourself?
"They told me to hire a good lawyer, that this is probably a billing issue with the city."
Aldermen voted against Ald. Daniel La Spata's proposal for helping low-income residents with water bills, while a competing proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot remains bottled up in a separate committee.
Hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans with unmetered accounts pay inflated bills – and you can't get a meter for a fair bill until you get a non-lead service line.
Despite a forced OT by the Bears in the fourth against the Rams, Chicago's playoff run comes to an end.
Despite forcing OT with a catch in the final minute in the 4th Quarter, the Chicago Bears' playoff journey comes to an end.
Chicago led 70-51 at the half and the advantage stayed above 20 points for most of the second half.
McHenry firefighters were called to the Riverside Bakery shop around 12 p.m. on Sunday.
Rams players and fans came to Chicago from an unseasonably warm winter in Los Angeles.
Looking overseas, there is wide opposition to the idea of taking Greenland by force.
Mr. Trump previously threatened to impose tariffs against countries that do not support his plans to acquire the territory.
The country's leader criticized President Trump on Saturday, blaming him for "casualties, damages and accusations" against Iran.
A Minnesota judge put limits Friday on the tactics that federal law enforcement are permitted to use in their handling of protests over the Trump administration's surge of immigration resources to Minneapolis.
The number of ICE detainees exceeded 70,000 for the first time in the deportation agency's 23-year history, according to internal DHS data obtained by CBS News.
Police in the west Chicago suburb of Geneva are warning of a scam involving spoofed phone numbers.
Protesters on Tuesday were cranking up the heat on Peoples Gas over a recently proposed rate hike that would add an additional $10 to $11 a month to utility bills.
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising.
As this holiday season nears its end, Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias issued a warning Tuesday about text scams.
A new report shines a light on electricity shortages that Illinois could face in less than 10 years.
Roughly 1.4 million fewer Americans have signed up for an Affordable Care Act plan as expiring tax breaks drive up premiums.
January is Radon Action Month, and the Cook County Department of Public Health is urging residents to test their homes for radon.
Severe flu season is sending many people to hospital emergency rooms across the country, including in the Chicago area.
Unionized health care workers this week took aim at Northwestern Medicine, saying the health care system needs to hire more people before expanding the emergency room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that its recommendations for childhood vaccines will not be affected by a change in federal guidelines.
United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside Chicago's Willis Tower Thursday morning as they fought for a new contract.
WSCR-AM, 670 The Score, will begin a simulcast on 104.3 FM next month.
Does the Chicago Bears' dramatic improvement this season, culminating in their first playoff run in five years, change the discussion about where they will build a new stadium?
The Piggery, a popular barbecue restaurant and bar in the northwest corner of Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, announced Thursday that it is going out of business.
The Lincolnwood Town Center mall in the north Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood has been sold to a developer, the village announced Wednesday.
Scott Adams, the cartoonist who created the "Dilbert" comic strip, has died at the age of 68, his first ex-wife revealed on Tuesday.
Here is everything you need to know about how to watch and stream the 2026 Golden Globes.
Bob Weir wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Grateful Dead classics including "Sugar Magnolia," "One More Saturday Night" and "Mexicali Blues."
Chicago Theatre Week brings value-priced tickets for shows from Feb. 5 until Feb. 15 at Chicago's stage venues. Tickets can sell for $30, $15, or even less.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. is perhaps best known for his role as state Sen. R. Clayton "Clay" Davis on HBO's "The Wire."
Chicago police said a 36-year-old woman was found unresponsive in the alley with multiple gunshot wounds to the body.
Police said a train near Madrid derailed, jumping onto the track in the opposite direction and hitting an oncoming train.
Wind chills for much of the morning on Monday will be dangerous to spend time outdoors between -20 and -25 degrees.
With the large fire and the cold weather, McHenry Fire Chief Rudy Horist said they called for mutual aid, using resources and staff from neighboring departments to battle the flames and backfill their own operations.
You could hear the roar of the crowd at the end of the fourth quarter, which, compared to the silence we heard when the game ended, was deafening.
Despite a forced OT by the Bears in the fourth against the Rams, Chicago's playoff run comes to an end.
McHenry firefighters were called to the Riverside Bakery shop around 12 p.m. on Sunday.
Despite forcing OT with a catch in the final minute in the 4th Quarter, the Chicago Bears' playoff journey comes to an end.
Rams players and fans came to Chicago from an unseasonably warm winter in Los Angeles.
A man was arrested and charged this weekend with a string of armed robberies and burglaries within a period of just over an hour earlier this month in Chicago.
Even as Mayor Brandon Johnson has warned of possible mid-year city worker layoffs if revenue estimates in the budget fall short, city employees and workers at the city's sister agencies owe a mountain of outstanding debt to the city.
Lead-based paint was banned for serious health reasons in 1978, but most homes built before then remain covered in it.
Fire department officials in Chicago's western suburbs said drone technology has been helping keep firefighters safe and make a major impact on public safety.
With the stores becoming a common target for thieves, some of the stores in the Chicago area are taking new steps to fight back.
As thousands of people are expected downtown for New Year's Eve celebrations, Mayor Johnson, the Chicago police, and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications are trying to get out ahead of any safety concerns.
Despite forcing OT with a catch in the final minute in the 4th Quarter, the Chicago Bears' playoff journey comes to an end.
Chicago led 70-51 at the half and the advantage stayed above 20 points for most of the second half.
The focus is going to be on Soldier Field Sunday night as the Chicago Bears take on the Los Angeles Rams for the NFC Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs.
Before the game, the Blackhawks honored their three Stanley Cup champion teams from the 2010s, with 29 players from those squads returning to pose with the Cup.
Tre Singleton added 14 points as the Wildcats dropped their fifth straight.
A man was arrested and charged this weekend with a string of armed robberies and burglaries within a period of just over an hour earlier this month in Chicago.
The ages of the victims range from 23 to 40, according to Chicago police.
Chicago police this weekend issued a warning about a string of strange vehicle break-ins in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, most recently this past Thursday.
Chicago police have issued a community alert on a string of burglaries this week targeting businesses from the north lakefront to the Southwest Side.
Burglars broke into a bar in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood early Thursday morning.
