OPA-LOCKA, Fla. – Opa-locka residents and business owners have been complaining about their water being shut off due to unpaid bills.
For some property owners in the city, water bills have ballooned over the past couple months, with increases over 1000% in some cases.
The water billing is part of a fix to Opa-locka's long descent into FBI-investigated fraud and corruption.
Miami-Dade County took over meter reading and billing, replacing or recalibrating 4,600 meters.
Past misreading's, whether over or under billed, are being credited or rebilled.
That means for some property owners, who had been paying low water bills for years, the amounts owed are now exponentially higher.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of the property owners looking to stop the county from turning off the water due to the increased bill amounts.
Officials from Miami-Dade County told Local 10 News' Glenna Milberg they are working with many property owners on how to pay these new bills, offering payment plans in some cases.
Only owners that are not paying anything are the ones getting their water turned off.