Ex-Chicago resident 'Getting Hosed' stuck with water bills for his former house
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For four years, the CBS 2 Investigators have been telling you about Chicagoans getting hosed by bogus water bills.
This next story doesn't involve a huge dollar amount, but it does make you wonder about the botched bureaucracy. CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey introduces us to a veteran who turned to us, after the city ignored him.
"The systems broken. It needs to be fixed," said 73-year-old Air Force veteran Danny Burns.
Burns had a hard enough time saying good bye to his West Lawn home of more than 40 years.
"My children grew up here," he said. "My grandchildren."
Burns sold this house in January. He had no problems at the closing and received the certificate showing he had paid off his water bill.
"This is the full payment certificate from the city," Burns said.
But then, in February he got a City of Chicago Water bill to his new home in the suburbs. It was the same name, his old address in Chicago, but a new account number. That's when he started reaching out to everyone he could think of to fix it.
"To the department of finance, the utility, and customer service," Burns said.
That included sending several pieces of certified mail. But three nearly three months later and the bills keep piling up.
"Here's April 12th, it went up to $405. And again, I'm still writing letters to the city," lamented Burns.
And now he's being sent to collections. Burns owns no property in the city of Chicago and lives in Arlington Heights. So is Danny Burns footing the bill for the new owners? Or are both of them paying? CBS 2 tried to find out.
There was no answer at the door, but a worker at the house asked the owner about the billing for CBS 2. He's been getting a bill, too and he's also paying a water bill. The worker said it was like $178.
CBS 2 hasn't heard back from the Chicago Finance Department or the Chicago Water Department and so far there's been no response.
Burns worries he's not the only one impacted.
"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!"
He's still hoping to get that call.
So far, CBS 2 has not heard back from the Dept. of Finance and the Water Department on this case. Alderman Silvana Tabares (22nd) said they are aware of the situation and they're going to work to help fix it in a timely matter.
