Water billing resumes for 5,000 DeKalb households

About 5,000 DeKalb County households can soon expect to receive water bills for the first time in months.

DeKalb CEO Mike Thurmond announced Tuesday that the county has verified actual meter readings for these residents during the July and August billing period. Their bills will be mailed starting Aug. 14.

The release of these bills is the county's latest effort to resume regularly scheduled billing since it stopped sending questionable bills to 37,000 accounts in September. Many residents have complained for years about inaccurate water and sewer charges.

“We are making significant progress as we continue to work to restore trust and integrity to the water billing system by reducing the number of held bills,” Thurmond said in a statement.

The county previously verified the accuracy of bills for 8,000 of those accounts in April. That leaves about 24,000 accounts that still haven't been cleared to resume normal billing.

Bills aren’t being mailed for prior billing periods, which remain under review.

Held bills won’t be assessed late fees or other penalties for late payment, according to the county.

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• Sewage spills spike in DeKalb but officials say county is on track 
• DeKalb official blows whistle on Chamblee Mercy Care clinic's approval 
• Disputes over DeKalb water bills continue as residents await relief

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