1,000 tax sales loom

Homeowners could forfeit property over unpaid water bills

Nearly 1,000 Baltimore homeowners are facing a tax sale this month for past-due water bills amid complaints that the city has limited their ability to challenge billing errors.

The city’s tax liens on the properties will be auctioned on May 15. The investors who buy them often charge homeowners thousands of dollars in interest, fees and court costs if they want to recoup their houses.

Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said she worries about vulnerable residents and believes the tax sale process hurts the city. What’s meant to be an enforcement tool to collect debt sometimes fails to yield money for government coffers because not all properties are sold, she said. Homeowners get displaced, which can add to the number of vacant houses.

“It’s more than a financial loss to the city, it’s a loss to the city of viable neighborhoods,” Clarke said. “We have enough vacant properties.”

Housing advocates and state lawmakers have sought to put an end to the sales and have studied alternatives to ensure that water bills are paid. The situation was considered more serious this year than other years because the city’s water department changed the way residents can dispute large bills.

The Department of Public Works established a new billing appeals process in October, eliminating homeowners’ ability to request an informal hearing with a third party.