ATLANTA — A recent city audit revealed that more than 60,000 delinquent water accounts owe $236 million to the City of Atlanta.
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In response, the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management is expanding collection staffing, targeting commercial accounts for shutoffs and launching a payment assistance program called Float 2.0.
The audit earlier identified significant unpaid balances among prominent commercial and government accounts across the city. Accounts under Fulton County owe approximately $4.67 million, including $299,138 under the Fulton County Finance Department and $175,532 under the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.
Among commercial entities, VCP Medical Partners owes $2.68 million, Chick-fil-A #03551 owes $471,209 and Jamestown Ponce City Market LP owes $197,882. The municipal water utility has maintained its current rate structure without increases for 16 years.
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The Atlanta Department of Watershed Management will focus its initial enforcement push on commercial accounts and large multi-family properties. To support this effort, the department is doubling the contractor staff provided by an outside collections firm from 16 to 32 workers.
Department of Watershed Management Commissioner Greg Eyerly brings outlined the city’s enforcement strategy during a presentation to city officials.
He emphasized that service disconnections will align with industry standards established by the American Water Works Association.
“Our objective is to build a fair and predictable process that Connects with our customers rather than disconnects. The goal is to connect and resolve issues,” Eyerly said. He added that disconnections must follow specific safeguards.
“Shutoffs should be a last resort,” Eyerly said. “Uh, that shutoffs should have sufficient notification before you do it. And three is there always should be a public health, safety and equity exception in shutoffs.”
The department performed 180 water service cutoffs in September as part of its enforcement efforts.
Department of Watershed Management Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Williams provided updated numbers on total disconnections. “We’ve done 180 cutoffs,” Williams said. “since we started at the end of the flow program we’ve turned off 5,833, something like that since when again since. April of 2023.”
To accelerate debt recovery, the utility is preparing to increase its shutoff capacity. “Presently our goal is to engage in a 60 customer accounts a week for potential shutoff,” Eyerly said. “We’re going to go ahead and Provide enough resources to initially move that number from 60 to 300 per week.”
To assist homeowners, the city is introducing legislation for a relief initiative called Float 2.0. The temporary program will allow single-family residential property owners to restore service by paying 10% of their outstanding balance while entering extended payment plans.
Long-term plans call for transitioning the city water network to automated smart meters that record real-time water usage and detect leaks immediately.
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