Nearly 1 in 4 Atlanta water and sewer accounts delinquent with $236 million in unpaid bills, audit finds – CBS News

Nearly 1 in 4 Atlanta water and sewer accounts delinquent with $236 million in unpaid bills, audit finds  CBS News

The City of Atlanta is owed more than $236 million in unpaid water and sewer bills from over 60,000 accounts, a new audit reveals.According to the City Auditor's Office, the amount of delinquent accounts has increased by thousands over the last few years. That's despite Department of Watershed Management writing off amounts that they had deemed uncollectible.The findings were presented at a recent Atlanta City Council Utilities Committee meeting and were a follow-up to an audit of the Department of Watershed Management's billing and collections done in 2023.The audit found that the city's delinquent balance for water and sewer services has grown from $198 million in 2023 to $236 million as of April 2026.

The number of delinquent accounts went from over 54,000 accounts to 60,168 accounts in the same time period."Almost a quarter of active accounts are delinquent, shifting the financial burden to customers who do pay," the City Auditor's Office wrote in their findings.The agency also found that just a small number of delinquent accounts are on payment plans, with the majority of those not complying with the plans they agreed to.Other entities that had large delinquent balances included the Fulton County Finance Department, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, Georgia State University, and the Atlanta Board of Education.The Department of Watershed Management wrote off nearly $62 million