Baltimore County Herald: Atlanta Council Acts on Water Bill Disputes After Builder's $29,695 Bill

The Atlanta City Council approved two measures Oct. 20 to change how the city handles disputed water bills, an action that City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari said was partly inspired by a construction business owner's yearslong fight over a bill he says was issued before a house he was building was connected to a meter.

The first measure expands the authority of the Water and Sewer Appeals Board to consider credits for unusually high bills. The second, F.L.O.A.T. 2.0, gives the Department of Watershed Management temporary authority to negotiate certain eligible residential billing disputes from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31, 2027. Neither measure guarantees a reduction, and customers must meet eligibility requirements.

Jeff Raw, who runs a construction business with his sister, said the city began charging for water while he was building a home on Alston Drive in southeast Atlanta. A city bill dated May 18, 2023 showed $29,695.67 due. On Dec. 19, 2023, Jonathan Williams, then a deputy commissioner with the Department of Watershed Management, wrote in an email that the prior balance reflected leakage caused by the department's actions and that the corrected total was $219.24.

Raw paid $219.24 that day, a city payment receipt shows, but the receipt still listed $29,603.83 outstanding. The city later said the correction was made in error, according to previous reporting. Raw said the dispute delayed the sale of the home, added financing costs, and left $35,000 tied up in escrow.

Bakhtiari, who represents District 5 and is vice chair of the City Utilities Committee, said customers had previously brought evidence that they did not cause unusual usage and still could not obtain relief because of limits on the board's authority. "This will allow them the ability to hear those cases and then be able to act and say whether or not these people or individuals are eligible to have that money credited back to them," Bakhtiari said.

An August 2026 city audit identified roughly $236 million in overdue charges across more than 60,000 accounts. United Way of Greater Atlanta's 211 Contact Center logged 829 requests for water bill assistance in 2026 across its 13-county area, against 1,012 in the same period last year. The city's Department of Watershed Management did not address questions about Raw's account; it said Commissioner Greg Eyerly and other leaders would be available for interviews the following week as the new initiative launches. Raw said his dispute remains unresolved: "It still keeps me up at night." The City Utilities Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 10 a.m.