Atlanta, tenants, landlord embroiled in water war

David Carr spent 20 days this summer without running water in his apartment.

The city of Atlanta shut off the service in early July, claiming the owner of Carr’s apartment complex didn’t pay the water bill.

Carr blames the city for allowing the bill to rise to its current total, about $410,000. The city blames the owner, Nasser Zohoury, for not paying the bill. Zohoury blames the city, saying it didn’t honor an agreement to forgive the delinquent bill before he bought the Southern Trace Apartments, located on Conley Road, in April 2006.

“It is going to be interesting to see who wears the biggest black hat,” said Michael H. Cummings, an attorney representing the tenants in the dispute.

The ongoing drama at Southern Trace is being played out at numerous apartment complexes across the city. The city says it’s owed about $37 million in unpaid water bills. More than one-half of the top 25 delinquent accounts are apartment complexes and condominiums. The city claims those owners owe about $1.7 million. Many owners are disputing the balances in the courts. Department spokeswoman Janet Ward admits some delinquent bills “fell through the cracks.”

The city could use every penny of that $37 million. Mayor Shirley Franklin laid off 97 workers earlier this month in the city’s Watershed Management Department to help plug a projected $50 million budget shortfall within that agency, which provides water and sewer service.

Department officials say the cuts will delay some projects, such as repairing water mains in Midtown.

The mayor has vowed to call each of the top 25 delinquent account holders. Twelve of them made payments this month, city officials say.

“We are on a mission to get those old accounts,” Ward said.

Other delinquent accounts include Morris Brown College and the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless.

Carr, who bought his own water during the three weeks his service was shut off, hopes the city follows through on its pledge.

“I don’t know how the city let them get that far behind,” said Carr, 66, a construction equipment operator. He spoke outside his apartment one evening earlier this month.

Ward said the city considers an account delinquent after one unpaid bill. The city is legally required to notify people before their service is shut off. Some apartment complexes are on a single water meter, which makes the owner responsible for paying the water bill. Others have multiple water meters, which allow the city to bill tenants. The city encourages builders to install individual meters, but said it cannot force them to do so. Officials say it would be “enormously expensive” to redo the plumbing in a large apartment complex to allow billing individual tenants.

And so in single meter apartments, tenants often unwittingly suffer when the city believes an account holder is arrears.

“It is a big Catch-22,” said Councilwoman Carla Smith, who chairs the council’s utilities committee.

Southern Trace currently owes more to the city than any account holder. The complex is located in the southeast corner of the city, near the Clayton County line. Airplanes from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport roar over the complex virtually every minute.

About 130 tenants lived there when the city shut off water service. Many of them had small children.

“I didn’t know how important water is,” said Carr, who lives alone. “Without water, you cannot do anything.”

The tenants sued the city to restore water service. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington signed an order on July 25 to restore the service for 15 days. After that period ended, Cummings said the city shut off water service to some apartments. The case went to Judge Melvin Westmoreland, who ordered service restored and threatened to jail Atlanta Watershed Management Commissioner Robert Hunter if the water was shut off without a court order.

The apartment owner, Zohoury, is suing the city, claiming it illegally turned off the service. The case is in the discovery phase. Zohoury claims in court records that he had a deal with the Fulton County/City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority to remove any outstanding water bills. The authority helps remove delinquent taxes and other liens on properties so developers can put properties back on the tax rolls.

In exchange, Zohoury would redevelop the property within three years.

Barry Jones, the authority’s interim executive director, said there was no agreement regarding water bills. Zohoury’s attorney, Nathaniel Blackmon III, said “it was understood” that there was an agreement. Blackmon wouldn’t say whether there was anything in writing to prove there was an agreement.

The dispute is in its fifth month of litigation and the bill continues to climb.