DeKalb moves closer to restoring normal water billing

DeKalb County this month plans to mail about 7,500 more suspended water and sewer bills to county customers, bringing the number of released bills to 26,000 or 72 percent, officials said.

DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said the county is continuing to move forward with the “New Day Project” he initiated in March to address the county’s water billing crisis.

“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,” CEO Thurmond said. “We are getting closer to restoring normal billing for all of our customers.”

Normal billing was suspended for approximately 37,000 of the county’s 194,000 water and sewer accounts in December 2016 when DeKalb County officials determined that the accuracy of the bills could not be independently verified.

In August 2017, Thurmond announced the development of an Independent Verification Process, which has expedited the review of customer accounts, water consumption and billing data.

Held bills will not be assessed late fees or other penalties for late payment. Extended payment terms only will be available for the held bills. Any account balance that was due prior to September 2016 will still be due and will carry forward on the current bill.

Customers needing an extension to pay their bills should contact the Utility Customer Operations Center at 774 Jordan Lane in Decatur, or call 404-378-4475 to speak with a customer service representative.