Jody Lundquist

FLINT, MI -- The city says it will send out the first water shutoff notices since a judge's ruling temporarily halted the practice in August.

Finance Director Jody Lundquist said about 1,800 shutoff notices for past-due accounts are expected to be mailed to customers this week.

The new notices only account for debts from water bills that have been issued since the city rolled back water and sewer rates to comply with an injunction issued by Genesee Circuit Court Judge Archie Hayman.

City officials have said the injunction, issued in a class action lawsuit brought by Flint water customers, has caused an increasing number of overdue accounts because the order forbid shutoffs based on rates that the judge ruled were improperly adopted.

"We are applying shutoff notices in a fair and systematic way in which those billed on the first cycle will be issued notices first," Lundquist said. "We do understand that this situation has been out of the ordinary and could be confusing to some of our customers and therefore want to help them as best we can."

A statement issued by the city says the first overdue bills are part of a growing number of overdue accounts in the city. Sixty percent of customers are now overdue on their bills and the threat of water shutoffs is expected to reduce that number.

The first bills reflecting the adjusted rate ordered by Hayman were mailed to customers in September. Unpaid balances prior to the new bills being mailed in September have been frozen and payments made on balances due before the injunction have been applied to the new billing table, the city's statement says.

Those September bills were 30 days past due on Oct. 11, and the city's policy is to issue shutoff notices when accounts are more than 30 days past due.

Customers are given 10 days to make payments to avoid disconnections, Lundquist said.