Errors Found on Storm Water Bills

It pays to complain. Jeff Jacenty knew something was wrong the minute he opened his bill for Gwinnett County's new storm water maintenance fee. The charge was $146.30.

According to a story in the AJC, Jacenty, an engineer, made a quick calculation and discovered he had been charged for 19,000 sq ft of rooftop, driveway and other impervious surfaces that do not absorb rainwater. By Jacenty's measurements, the hard surface area on his 20 acres near Dacula was closer to 3,300 sq ft.

Good thing he checked, because he was right. County officials have since admitted they overcharged Jacenty roughly $120.

"Pay attention," Jacenty warned. "You might be getting screwed."

Jacenty is among roughly 250 people who have caught errors with their storm water maintenance charges since bills went out last month, Gwinnett Water Resources Director Frank Stephens said. The errors would have netted the county government about $21,000 more than it was owed. All the errors were fixed, Stephens said.

With 199,000 bills going out, the percentage of errors found so far is small, but there's no telling how many errors have gone undiscovered. The storm water charge is listed on the bill as a dollar amount but there is nothing to show how many square feet of impervious surface a property owner has been charged for.

"It's like anything," Jacenty said, "Like, if you don't balance your checkbook every month, you don't know if the bank is doing it right."

The Gwinnett Board of Commissioners decided late last year to begin charging a storm water maintenance fee to help repair and maintain the county's storm drains, which carry rainwater to streams to help avoid flooding. The fee this year is 77 cents per 100 sq ft of impervious surface, but by 2009 the fee will rise to $2.46 per 100 sq ft.

The county calculates the amount of water-shedding surface on a piece of property in order to figure out how much a homeowner must pay.

The county uses an aerial photograph to determine the area of impervious surface. The photograph is overlaid with a digital survey drawing of the parcel. A technician uses a computer program to draw polygons around roofs, driveways, patios and other surfaces that discharge instead of absorb water. The computer automatically calculates the area of the polygons.

The method is not foolproof. In fact, the county rounds down to the nearest 100 sq ft to err on the side of homeowners. So even if you have 2,999 sq ft of surface, you get charged for 2,900 sq ft, not 3,000.

Most of the errors found so far were due to a policy change that came after some of the storm water fee calculations were made last year, Stephens said. County officials decided not to charge property owners for gravel driveways, even though gravel surfaces shed some water.

Most of Jacenty's overcharge was because of his gravel driveway. But the county also mistakenly interpreted a few clear spaces that appeared on the aerial photographs of his property as concrete walkways, he said.

Stephens said many of the errors property owners pointed out were fixed over the phone.

"There are occasions where we have followed up with some ground reconnaissance," he said.

Stephens said some errors also occurred when property lines weren't clear. He urged property owners to call if they find problems with their storm water charge.

"We rely on data," Stephens said. "The eyes and ears of every citizen out there is data, and it's useful to us and we welcome that."

Source: AJC