NEW YORK, NY October 02, 2007 —City Council members are vowing to fight the double digit water rate hikes that may be necessary to close a $200-million-dollar hole in the City's Water system's budget. WNYC's City Hall reporter Bob Hennelly has more.

REPORTER: Mayor Bloomberg says the rate hike will be necessary if the City can't force deadbeats to make good on over a half-billion dollars in overdue water bills. Brooklyn Councilman Lewis Fidler says such a hike, the second in just a few months, is ill advised in the midst of a residential foreclosure crisis.

FIDLER: We know the mortgage rates area problem and so a water increase at this particular time is a double whammy and it really is something that really have to avoid.

REPORTER: The Bloomberg Administration wants the Council to grant the City the right to put liens on the properties owned by delinquent water customers. Several Council members prefer the City cut off water for non-payment with safeguards for those on fixed incomes or facing special hardships. For WNYC I am Bob Hennelly,