Atlanta’s recent watershed audit revealed a bombshell statistic: A quarter of the city’s customers have unpaid balances, totaling more than $236 million in bills owed to Atlanta. You might recognize some of the high-profile culprits.
The audit caused uproar among the city council. City Council Utilities Committee Chair Dustin Hills was notably upset at the audit findings.
“This is one of the worst financial situations I’ve seen since I have been on council,” Hillis said.
Council member Liliana Bakhtiari said the findings were disappointing, and she was “so angry” about the issues at play.
Department of Watershed Management Commissioner Greg Eyerly pushed back on some of the audit’s findings, and said the amount of debt has decreased from the $236 million found in the audit.
But he also revealed most balances are considered “not collectible” just 90 days out from the payment being due – as much as $150 million of the delinquent balance is uncollectible per these standards. The department typically writes off those debts instead.
Everly did admit the city needs to improve collection efforts and “be more disciplined” with shutting off water to people and businesses that don’t pay their bills.
But some of those delinquent cases are from high-profile customers. The audit named Fulton County, Ponce City Market, Chick-Fil-A and Atlanta Public Schools as key culprits. Allegedly, Chick-Fil-A had an unpaid balance near $500,000, and Ponce City Market owed about $200,000. The audit even found APS with a $137,000 balance.
Some customers said the findings were a mistake, though. Chick-Fil-A credited the balance to a single restaurant and told 11Alive the bill has since been paid. Ponce City Market officials, meanwhile, told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution the debt was a “mix-up” and is now being resolved.
Still, that leaves behind nearly a quarter of Atlanta’s active water customers. There are more than 60,000 delinquent accounts across the department’s service area.
It raises a key question for how to move forward: Should the city shut off water?
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens doesn’t think it is so simple. In an exclusive interview with SaportaReport, he said council members “should be upset” about the findings.
“When I was a council member, I was upset about unpaid water bills, because part of the challenge is somebody’s still paying for that,” Dickens said.
But shutting off the water is a complicated move. “Water is so vital that it is one of the most difficult decisions to make to cut it off,” he explained. It may seem easier to give large corporations like Chick-Fil-A an ultimatum, but many of the cases in play are smaller and more local.
“The biggest challenge for us is how to deal with apartment complexes, where the tenants have paid their rent but the landlord or property owner has not paid their water bill,” Dickens said.
The mayor said these account for many of the unpaid customer balances – but not at the fault of the residents. Many people don’t want to be on the list, he argued, they just don’t know how to get off. To turn off water for a delinquent landlord, the city must cut access to hundreds of units of housing.
“The residents are now suffering because of one property owner’s mismanagement or underpayment of this vital resource,” Dickens said.
The same is true for a case like Atlanta Public Schools. By all accounts, it is a large client that the council urged watershed to take action against. But if the city cuts water to the schools, the school system will be forced to shut down. The children and employees will bear the consequences.
Dickens still wants to hold landlords and property owners accountable. He floated different mechanisms, like public service support, a lien and “all the legal options.”
“We’re gonna have to make that tough decision around commercial properties, where the individual is not directly responsible for the payment,” he said.
As one action, Councilmember Hillis said he will mandate biweekly updates on the status of the city’s accounts from the Department of Watershed Management.
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