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Snyder wants $30 million for Flint water bills

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Flint residents want the murky, lead-contaminated drinking water gone, and the bills too.

"We're still paying bills for tainted water. That's ridiculous," says Flint resident and protestor Melissa Mays.

Throughout the water crisis in Flint, the people who live there have had to pay water bills for water they can't drink.

"I have told...Governor Snyder that Flint residents should not have to pay for water they did not and are not using," says Flint's Mayor Karen Weaver.

Now some action, Governor Rick Snyder is announcing a plan today to pay people back.

He's proposing $30 million in state funding to help pay the water bills.

The Governor's office says 21,000 people in Flint have still been paying their water bills, 9,000 have not.

The 21,000 customers who have been paying would get a 65% credit on the water portion of their bill - that covers things like drinking and bathing.

The 9,000 others who have stopped paying would be put on a payment plan for the 35% portion they still owe.

Businesses get a 20% credit.

This is something many have been demanding for weeks.

"To make somebody pay for that is a great form of injustice," says Flint City Councilman Wantwaz Davis.

It's a plan to give the people of Flint some relief, but some claim it's not nearly enough. Some Michigan Democrats say this plan doesn't even come close to re-funding the residents of Flint.

The $30 million would cover two years of bills from April 2014 until this spring. The governor says the money is available because the state has a budget surplus.

To get the refund percentages, the governors office estimated the amount of water in the bills that was likely ingested or that came into contact with skin.

All of this will require lawmakers' approval.