BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A Baltimore woman says she’s still being held responsible for a more than $228,000 water bill tied to her entire neighborhood, despite a new statement from the city’s Department of Public Works acknowledging that the account isn’t managed by her.
For months, Kristina Moore and her realtor, Lisa Ciofani, have been trying to determine why the debt remains attached to Moore’s property, which is located in the Springwood Estates community. A neighborhood comprised of 37 homes in Northeast Baltimore.
“We requested bills when we were there in person. I requested bills from Zeke Cohen’s office because they said they would help us,” Moore said, “I spent hours on the phone with DPW. Nobody will give me bills when they’re telling me my property is being held liable for this whole bill.”
Moore says she inherited the home from her late father in February. Since then, she says the outstanding balance has prevented her from selling the property.
“You’re holding her accountable, but you can’t set us down at a table with who you’re talking to, to say why you keep giving this burden to her,” Ciofani said.
With no help in sight, the pair turned to FOX45.
After a week of pressing city officials for answers, FOX45 received a new statement from the Baltimore City Department of Public Works.
DPW said it is limited in what it can discuss publicly because the matter involves “specific customer accounts.” However, the department also acknowledged that “the community referenced uses a master-meter system” and that the “homeowners association (HOA) is responsible for managing the community’s water account with DPW.”
Following that statement, FOX45 asked DPW several follow-up questions, including:
FOX45 also asked DPW to identify any law preventing it from answering those policy questions. The department has not responded.
“I mean, they just are jamming it down her throat and saying you gotta pay for it. That’s just not legally right,” Ciofani said.
FOX45 also continues to seek answers from the office of Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen.
Emails obtained by FOX45 show that a senior adviser initially told Moore in May that the HOA had “provided the documentation needed to get the lien off the property.” In July, the office later informed Moore that a payment plan had been approved and that “the lien will remain in place until the full balance is paid.”
FOX45 asked Cohen’s office to explain the change, whether the council president believes the outcome is appropriate, and requested an interview. Those questions have now gone unanswered for more than a week.
Most recently, FOX45 reached out to Moore’s own City Council representative Danielle McCray, asking the same questions and requesting an interview, but again, we have yet to hear back.
“We’ve never asked for a lien to be done away with or released. We’re asking for the water meter address to go back to the HOA. And if that happens, that whole amount goes on the HOA instead of just her,” Ciofani said.
Among all the questions left to be answered, Moore and Ciofani say they keep coming back to just one — how would city leaders respond if this were happening to them?
“To a loved one, or to your personal residents? Would you assume responsibility for 37 houses? That just seems the most common-sense question for anyone.”
Last week, DPW also told FOX45 it would contact Moore directly to help resolve the matter. Moore says she has not yet heard from the department.
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