Water Bill Woes

In the last year the City of Atlanta's Watershed Management Depaartment has been installing new water meters capable of being read electronically. For many customers, both residential and commercial, the new meters have been one big headache. The new meters have also exposed the lack of "customer service" in the WMD. Our 13,000 sf mixed office and retail building in Grant Park seems to be a good example of water woes. The building is serviced by 3 separate water meters. One meter serves the office portion of the building. This section of the building has 5 restroom-all with one low flow toilet each, a small "wet bar" area and a little used kitchen. The other two meters serve a hair salon and a restaurant. Historically, as one would expect, both the restaurant and the salon were the biggest water users in the building.

When the "new" water meters were installed last summer, everything was turned upside down.
The water bill for the offices increased by a factor of 20 and both the salon and restaurant's bills dropped. Each water bill has a "bar chart" showing monthly consumption. The bar chart for the offices shot up in August, the first month on the new meter. After checking for leaks and finding none, we called the WMD to ask them to check the meter. Nothing happened. Over the next few months, we would experience "deja vu" all over again. We would receive an astronomically high bill, call the WMD and they would promise to re-read the meter and nothing would happen.
Finally, after about 3 months we called City Council Member Carla Smith's office for help. It took Ms. Smith's office another 2 months to get the WMD to admit that the were misreading the meter. The most recent bill was back to "normal". Council member Smith is known for her great service to her constituents. It's a shame that her office has to spend it's valuable time on something that the customer service folks at WMD should be able to easily handle.

Property Tax Valuations

If you feel that your property’s value has fallen over the last year or so and that its value is now less than the value that the Tax Assessor has placed on the property, you have a small window of opportunity to trigger a re-valuation by your county tax assessor. Fulton County property owners have until April 1st to file a “return” on your property. DeKalb County property owners have until March 1st.

To file a return, you must appear in person at your county’s Tax Assessors office. You will need some form of identification and the property’s address. It will also be helpful if you have your Property Tax Identification Number from your tax bill. The tax assessor’s personnel will give you a printout of your property’s information and you will be able to fill in an amount that you feel is an appropriate value for your property. Filling out this form and signing it will automatically trigger a re-valuation of your property for tax year 2009. If the county agrees with the new value, your 2009 property tax bill will be based on that value. If the county disagrees with your value, it will trigger the appeal process.

Fulton County property owners can file a return at:

Fulton County Government Center
141 Pryor St., SW, Suite 1047-B
Atlanta, GA 30303
Office Hours- 8:30am to 5pm.
404-612-6440

Dekalb County property owners can file a return at;

DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s Office
4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 100
Decatur, GA 30032
Office Hours- 8am to 5pm
404-298-4000

If you own property in Metro Atlanta outside these two counties go to our website www.adamscre.com and click on “Resources” to find a link to your county’s web site.