ATLANTA — In a recent update from the Atlanta City Auditor, the city’s data for unpaid water bills show roughly one-third of the accounts in the city have not paid their bills.
The Department of Watershed Management bills approximately 170,000 accounts across residential, commercial and industrial customers in the City of Atlanta.
All told, the city has not collected close to $200 million of unpaid water bills since 2010, and the auditor’s report says current policies for collecting on unpaid bills are not being enforced.
Instead, 91,000 accounts are reported to have unpaid dues as long-ranging as between 30 days to a year long. The auditor’s report said 54,000 are unpaid, with $137 million due for currently active accounts.
Between 2010 and 2022, the Atlanta Water Department has only shut off 737 accounts for nonpayment.
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While detailing the different statuses of unpaid accounts, the city auditor said officials may only be able to collect a fraction of what’s owed.
“As of June 2023, over 54,000 customer accounts accounted for a total delinquent balance of about $197.8 million, including $137 million for active accounts. Watershed Management’s delinquent collection threshold of $500 does not align with its collectability tier. As of September 2023, the over 91,000 accounts were between 30 days and one year delinquent, totaling $64.8 million, but the department may only be able to collect about $17.6 million from these accounts,” the city auditor’s report reads.
Going further, the audit report said some of the issue also lies with department employees.
“The increase in estimated reads may be due to insufficient field staff to investigate meter malfunctions promptly and a backlog of unresolved meter investigation and repair work orders. We also found that employees across several Watershed Management divisions entered A-bills (a type of billing adjustment) between July 2020 and 2023, and A-bill adjustments of less than $5,000 do not require supervisory review or approval,” the audit said.
According to a letter from City Auditor Amanda Noble and Audit Committee Chair Danielle Hampton accompanying the report, the audit was undertaken in December 2023 because “the department had not consistently enforced collections and City Council expressed concerns about collections and the amount of uncollectible debt yet to be written off.”
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The auditor report says collection of unpaid water is intended to collect revenue to pay debts and maintain water infrastructure without increasing bill rates for customers, the lack of enforcement not only causes revenue loss but inequity between its customers.
While Watershed Management told city auditors that shutoffs resumed in 2023, from January to July, only 292 accounts were actually turned off.
City officials did not even begin shut-offs for nonpayment or termination of service until February 2023, according to the city auditor.
As of Sept. 11, 2023, more than 21,000 inactive delinquent accounts with a lack of payment longer than a year were identified in the audit, collectively owed $64.6 million.
Another issue impacting collections is, described by city water officials, as a lack of cost-effective means to collect on dues.
“Watershed Management staff told us that the department does not make a considerable effort to collect delinquent balances of $500 or less, because collection efforts are not a cost-effective use of city funds,” the audit report said. “The median balance amount was about $266 for delinquent customer accounts as of June 2023.”
Additionally, lack of timely collection is said to increase the number of write-offs for unpaid accounts, further lowering how much of the unpaid balances are actually collected as revenue for the Atlanta Water Department.
While policies are unclear for staff in the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, which the audit said was due to a combination of differences between written and verbal policy directives, it is also unclear for customers who may be attempting to pay their bills.
“The department’s delinquency policy is not posted to the Watershed Management website. Bills only state that failure to pay will result in termination of service and the classification of delinquent charges as liens on a property, but do not detail or direct customers to a delinquency policy,” the report states.
In terms of actions now underway to collect debts owed, almost 2,000 accounts had scheduled terminations as of Nov. 1, 2023. Just over 1,000 accounts have been brought current, according to the audit report, with the resumption of termination resulting in a 90.3% increase in collections.
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