Atlanta's inaction on overdue water accounts can impact all ratepayers

ATLANTA - An Atlanta City Council member says the failure of the water department to get tough with people who do not pay their bills could force rates to go up for all families. 

Approximately $20 million is outstanding in overdue accounts. 

At the beginning of 2023, the water manager said the city was about to do something that had not been done in more than a decade -- turn the taps off to those who do not pay. 

Howard Shook has watched and waited, but not one residential account got turned off.

Not in January, not so far now halfway through February.

The councilman said the date keeps getting pushed back as staff reviews the list. 

Media reports about the slow payers have resulted in some people coming in to make payment arrangements. 

"The only reason that happened is because of a deadline," Shook told FOX 5. 

What the councilman is looking for is follow-up enforcement. Conversations he had in January and as late as this week, has given Shook no confidence stricter enforcement is imminent. 

And here is why he says it matters.

The water department operations are under a separate City Hall fund.

It is called a revenue fund. That means the cost of most of the mandated infrastructure projects Atlanta has taken on over decades (and is still continuing) must be paid for by customers paying for water pumped into their homes. 

If Atlanta continues to allow a large number of citizens to receive essentially free water, the rates for the people who do pay may have to be increased to make up the difference. 

"We already have some of the highest rates in the nation, if not the highest," Shook said. 

Atlanta authorities say enforcement will begin shortly. Cut off notices have been printed that will be strapped on the door knobs of customers who have fallen way behind.