A dripping faucet. Photo by Danny Steaven. Source: Wikimedia commons

DeKalb County has announced it will release an additional 7,500 overdue bills.

If you’re keeping score, that means the county has released a total of approximately 26,500 bills out of the 37,000 bills that were suspended.

The billing problems have been years in the making. County CEO Michael Thurmond has made fixing what he has called a “crisis” a top priority.

The bills weren’t mailed because of questions about their accuracy. Some customers have gone months without receiving a bill.

Here is the full announcement from DeKalb County:

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DeKalb County to Release 7,500 Additional Water Bills

Approximately 72 percent to resume normal billing

DECATUR, Ga.—Approximately 7,500 previously held water and sewer bills will be mailed to customers in September.

That brings the total released bills to approximately 26,500, or 72 percent, since DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond initiated the New Day Project 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, CEO 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.

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