Some New Yorkers will receive a water bill credit this summer. Are you one of them?

By Lucy Cohen Blatter | April 27, 2016 - 3:59PM

You're going to see an extra $183 in your pocket this summer if you own a single-family, two-family or three-family home in New York City. But if you're a renter, or a condo or co-op owner: You're going to see nada.

That's because the one-time-only give back, which Mayor Bill De Blasio announced earlier this week, will only go out to 664,000 homeowners (who will get, on average, 17 percent of their annual water bill back).

It's being made possible because the mayor is scrapping a long-standing practice of forcing the Water Board to pay rent to the city (representing $244 million next year), according to the Daily News.

But, according to Crain's, the mayor's move has baffled New Yorkers who think the credit should also apply to owners of large buildings (who could pass savings on to renters whose water bills are included in rent), and to condo and co-op owners, too.

"The de Blasio administration noted in its announcement that it has already provided a $250 water-bill credit for apartment-building owners. But it was only provided to landlords with very low rents and who promised to keep them that way," reports Crain's. "The average rent must be affordable to households making below 60% of area median income, which is about $46,000 a year for a family of three. 'Affordable' rent means no more than 30% of the tenant's income."

For the rest of us? No such luck.

Your next shower will require 18 gallons — and other startling facts about New Yorkers' water use

Improve Are you wasting less water than your neighbors? This survey lets you know

Roommates + Landlords Ask Sam: I think my landlord is messing with our water pressure. What should I do?

Brick Underground articles occasionally include the expertise of, or information about, advertising partners when relevant to the story. We will never promote an advertiser's product without making the relationship clear to our readers.