Beware Phony DEP Inspectors
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

In the middle of a crackdown on property owners who haven't paid their water bills, the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has also issued a warning to all New York City homeowners to be on the alert for fake DEP inspectors.

Several separate instances of individuals posing as inspectors to gain entrance into homes have been confirmed. In a March 3 press release, DEP said phony inspectors claim homeowners are behind in their water bill payments, or that they need to come in to read or fix a broken meter to get inside.

Once in the home, the bogus inspector seeks a cash payment for a past due bill or for performing a service, said DEP.

"Allowing unknown individuals into your home could be very dangerous," said DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd. "Customers must keep in mind that a DEP employee must provide proper identification if he/she needs to enter a property." Moreover, said Lloyd, "Our inspectors never ask for cash payments."

The DEP said homeowners could verify identification by asking for a DEP contact telephone number. In addition, any person who identifies themselves as from DEP must either have made a previous appointment or be able to provide proper ID. All DEP employees who are authorized to enter homes must carry and show photo ID cards and badges and they must be in uniform.

But DEP acknowledged fraudulent inspectors may have some form of ID. For that reason, it is important to make sure the ID is from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

Con Edison workers, who also read water meters for DEP in the city, must also wear uniforms and carry Con Ed identification.

DEP has hired a third-party, Contract Callers Inc. to read water meters that are categorized as hard to get at or frequently estimated.

If, at any time, customers are unsure of whether or not a person(s) requesting access to inspect their water meter is in fact authorized by DEP, they can call the DEP Call Center at (718) 595-7000. If you think someone is misrepresenting a DEP employee, you should call the local police precinct or 311.

The city is looking to collect $130.5 million in unpaid water bills by May. In January, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a law authorizing liens on some 15,000 property owners in arrears for $600 million in unpaid water bills.

In 2006, the New York Times reported 21,000 of the city's 828,000 water accounts had made no payments at all for at least two years and thousands more were in arrears for shorter periods.

In February, the city threatened to shut off the water in 8,120 single-family homes with unpaid water bills and listed 14,549 multifamily buildings for sale at nyc.gov/liensale in a procedure similar to that used to collect unpaid property taxes.

Water rates in New York City went up by 11.5 percent last year, the largest annual increase in 15 years, adding $72 on average to the water and sewer bill for a single-family home in the city. The average annual residential water bill is $699.

"Everybody should pay," Bloomberg said in a February 20 Daily News report. "You pay. I pay. They should pay. There's no reason why you and I should subsidize somebody else and the city will take any appropriate steps to collect the money owed."