Atlanta water billing to be revamped

By D.L. Bennett


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

City Council members did an about-face Tuesday after years of complaining Atlanta water system officials didn’t do enough to collect late bills.

Now, they want a kinder, gentler system that could give some delinquent customers more time to work with the city before they get their service shut off.

“Shutting off someone’s water is a Draconian act,” said Councilman Howard Shook. “It should be a last resort. It should be applied to people who have systematic, chronic problems.”

Members of the council’s Utilities Committee agreed, saying they will work with the Watershed Management Department on legislation to revamp the city’s billing rules.

Rob Hunter, commissioner of Watershed, said he currently has no flexibility. City code requires shutoff before an account gets 30 days delinquent, and even if only one penny is overdue. He noted his department rarely meets that stringent requirement because so many accounts qualify for shutoff.

“It is something that is absolutely required,” Hunter said. “Is it fair? Is it justified? But that’s what the code requires.”

The comments came Tuesday as the City Council pored over results from the latest audit examining billing and collection practices in the city’s massive Watershed Management Department.

The audit detailed a series of mistakes made last year and early this year after the city approved a 27.5 percent rate hike for all customers beginning July 1, 2008. The department wasn’t ready to change the rates on time, so it didn’t issue bills reflecting the new rate until 30 days later.

The failure meant the city didn’t collect about $7.2 million it should have, so the department went back at year’s end to collect by sending out back bills reflecting the amount the city shorted itself.

Those amounts ended up on December and January bills as overdue, which generated mass anxiety, confusion and anger around the city. Some customers were also shut off when they shouldn’t have been, the audit found.

Leslie Ward, the city’s internal auditor, said anyone charged cut-off fees should be reimbursed, and policies should be amended to make the process fairer and more reliable.

“It’s not practical or feasible to cut off every account before it is 30 days past due,” Ward said. Six months ago, the practice was to generate a cutoff notice for any account more than 30 days late and with at least $50 overdue, Ward said. How the practice has been carried out has varied, depending on resources.

Ward suggested the city revise its laws so the process is one that can be consistently duplicated by staff.

Hunter initially disputed the audit’s findings. But Tuesday, he agreed the department made several mistakes and that it had failed to communicate well with city water customers.

He admitted 124 accounts were cut off because of the back-billing controversy. Hunter added that two earlier audits focused on millions in overdue accounts and how the department failed to go after delinquents.

Watershed, he said, is now getting close to the city’s requirement by cutting off folks who are about 33 days late.

Councilwoman Clair Muller urged the council to look at revamping the billing, communication and notification processes so customers don’t get fed up. She also said customer service must improve.

Shook described the department’s reputation in his district as “tangible evidence of evil.” He said Atlanta should look at a system that takes into account billing and payment history and other factors before a shutoff order is issued.

Hunter said much of the controversy over customer service and billing can be traced to issues like new meters and the department’s push to stop estimating bills and actually issue accurate monthly bills. Beyond that, he said people pay attention now because Atlanta’s rates are so high.

“As the costs go up, interest is much greater,” Hunter said.