Yahoo News by Dana Fowle 1/17/2024
A small metro Atlanta business owner fought the water company over a large bill. He lost. He appealed. Lost again. But the devil is in the details. The address in question didn't even have a water line.
The FOX 5 I-Team has reported for months about the Department of Watershed Management's appeals process where it's hard to win a case. We poured over 18 months of cases appealed by DWM customers. In these situations, when Watershed denied adjustments to disputed bills, customers then went to the Sewer and Water Appeals Board. In our research, they lost 80% of the time.
"It was a kangaroo court to be honest." That's how Jeff Raw, a frustrated business owner and Atlanta city taxpayer, describes dealing with the Department of Watershed Management's appeals process.
Raw runs a small, family-owned company called Revive Construction Group that appealed a nearly $30,000 bill. Even when a higher-up in the water company sided with the customer, his decision was overturned.
In an email to DWM, Raw called the appeals board's decision "criminal."
Let's go back to where this saga began - an empty lot in the city's East Lake community.
"We bought this land several years ago, and there was no home here," the contractor told the FOX 5 I-Team's Dana Fowle while standing in front of the new, modern construction. "There was no water meter."
Raw has been building and renovating in the City of Atlanta for 20-plus years. He has a routine.
"I started my process. I ordered the water meter," he said.
Department of Watershed Management employees installed a stand-alone water meter on Oct. 4, 2022.
"When the meter was installed, there wasn't even a foundation on that house," he said. "So there was nothing for them to connect to."
More:
https://news.yahoo.com/empty-atlanta-lot-no-water-164248769.html
