Water billing resumes for 7,500 more DeKalb residents

Toby Jennings of Lithonia holds her water bill of $2009.49 while DeKalb CEO Mike Thurmond updated residents about the depth of the county's remaining water billing problems during his third public update on June 29.  Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Toby Jennings of Lithonia holds her water bill of $2009.49 while DeKalb CEO Mike Thurmond updated residents about the depth of the county's remaining water billing problems during his third public update on June 29. Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Another 7,500 DeKalb residents are getting back to a normal water billing schedule after the county government checked their accounts for accuracy, CEO Mike Thurmond announced Tuesday.

The county is mailing those bills to customers who had been put on hold since last fall, when normal billing for 37,000 accounts was suspended. About 72 percent, or 26,500, of those held accounts have now been brought back online.

“We have made significant progress in the past six months toward addressing decades of mismanagement that led to the failures in our water and sewer billing process,” Thurmond said in a statement.

The released bills cover the August and September billing cycle, while charges for previous months remain under review.

Withheld bills are being sent after the county reviews them for accuracy based on water consumption and billing data, according to the county. Those reviews can include field verifications, data comparisons, water meter replacements and corrections of inaccurate amounts.

All the bills mailed this month are based on actual water consumption, and no bills are estimated, according to the county.