Flint officials are concerned the city may not be able to pay for recommended fixes to the city’s water system.
Today, the Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee responded to a list of 44 recommendations made by a special task force set up by Gov. Rick Snyder in the early days of the Flint water crisis.
“We trust that those recommendations are putting into motion things that need to be done in order to right-size … the system to be safe and drinkable,” says Harvey Hollins, the man appointed to oversee the FWICC.
The recommendations cover a broad spectrum of needs, but not how to pay to implement them.
Sylvester Jones is Flint’s city administrator. He says Flint needs help paying for administrative costs of fixing the system and to lower the city’s sky high water bills.
“We’re looking to the state. We’re looking to the federal government,” says Jones. “We’re looking to anybody who can help to subsidize the water rates and the water costs for Flint.”
Jones cautions Flint’s financial future could be imperiled in questions about financing city water operations and city water rates area not addressed.
Virginia Tech water expert Marc Edwards says all the effort to fix Flint’s water problems could be “wasted” if the money issues are not also addressed.
