DWP defends withholding money

Top Department of Water and Power officials Tuesday said it was "business judgment" - not deception or extortion - that motivated the utility to withhold a promised $73.5 million transfer to the city last spring until the City Council approved an unpopular rate hike. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

In his first official response to a scathing June audit of the utility, interim DWP General Manager Austin Beutner told the City Council that the DWP would have had its credit rating downgraded - costing $200 million down the road in higher interest payments - without the rate hike.