Cities liability records expose wide disparities

A quick-hit investigation by Marc Davis of The Virginian-Pilot looked at city liablitiy records and found “Virginia Beach paid 84 homeowners and businesses a total of $457,000 to fix damages or repay plumbing fees for sewer backups in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Among the other four cities – Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk – none has paid for more than 13 claims of sewer backup repairs over the same three years. And none has paid more than $48,000 total – roughly one-tenth of Virginia Beach’s total.“