Sewer bill has unhealthy financial odor
Lake Ridge residents Lisa and James Patton received a piece of mail early this month that, well, stunk.
It was a letter dated June 30 from the Prince William County Service Authority stating they owed $1,760.31 in unpaid sewer charges from September 2004 to March 2008.
The letter stated a recent audit revealed that the Pattons had mistakenly received services without being charged.
Since receiving the letter, Lisa has spoken with representatives from the service authority customer service depart-ment and asked them how this happened.
Lisa claims the authority could not give her a definite answer and told her she needed to pay the bill or her water would eventually be turned off.
She doesn't think she should be made to pay, she said.
"If it had been a mistake for a few months, we wouldn't have had a problem [paying it], but four years?" Lisa said. "They can't even explain how it happened."
The letter directed the Pattons to call customer service to set up payment arrangements.
Lisa said she offered $5 a month, which she claims service authority customer service representatives turned down during a phone conversation.
Lisa said her husband always paid the bills on time and that they never noticed anything unusual that would prompt them to inquire about their bills.
"We averaged $40 to $50 a month," Lisa said. "We're a family of six and in the summer, it goes up."
PWCSA spokesperson Keenan Howell would not comment on case specifics, citing authority policy. But he did say that the authority does all they can to meet the needs of their customers.
"Every case is unique and because every case is unique, we make a point to do one-on-one communications with every customer who is having some level of difficulty paying their bill," Howell said. "[Turning off the water] is an option, but not a foregone conclusion."
Howell compared paying a back water bill to paying back taxes. It may have been a mistake on the part of the government, but the individual still has to pay it.
"We occasionally make mistakes, but we try to be as fair as possible in correcting any errors made," Howell said.
Lisa said she has sent a letter to the authority president and copied several Prince William County supervisors on the e-mail. She also said she plans on contacting an attorney to see what kind of case she has, if any.
Manassas Park city attorney Dean Crowhurst said he is unclear what grounds the Pattons would have to pursue their case in the courtroom and wouldn't elaborate on the specific case. However, he did say that if a similar scenario occurred in Manassas Park, the city would likely forgive the amount owed.
Manassas attorney Mark Moorstein, who deals with local governments on land use issues, agreed, saying if the Pattons made enough noise, it might be worth the authority settling this issue quickly because they'll be "getting horrible publicity."
Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.
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Reader Reactions
We, the Patton’s never noticed anything to alert us that something was wrong with our bill in all those years. We got our bill every month and we paid it. It never seemed questionable. It wasn’t as though we had basic cable and suddenly premium chanels showed up for free for years and we took advantage of it and never notified the supplier. PWCSA sent us a bill that we assumed was correct, we paid it every single month and then when they replaced our meter in March, that is when they found out their errors. They still can’t tell us how this mistake ever came about in the first place, only that if we don’t pay the bill they will turn off our water. They tell us they have the right to back bill anyone for any length of time and for any amount of money even when they are at fault. They told me that they don’t discriminate, they go after little old ladies on fixed incomes, single mothers with four kids who work two jobs, it doesn’t matter to them they will come after anyone for their money or they will cut off your water. I didn’t make that up, a rep. actually said that to me. Oh, and by the way, they can’t prove anything, they sent out my meter to be destroyed even though they knew that they hadn’t billed me for sewer charges for close to four years and that I might question the bill. They can’t tell me why they waited from March until July to notify us when they did discover it. If I had sold my house back in Jan. of this year and moved to the other side of the country this would be a lien on the house and the new owners would have inherited this debt. Do you think that is fair? That my friends could happen to anyone that owns a home that is seviced by the PWSCA. That is a fact, the water utility in Virginia is the only utility that can put a lien on real property and that is what they would have done. Now am I the only person that feels like they have to much power when they have unlimited authority to back bill customers for their ineptitude?
I feel sorry for the Pattons for getting hit with this large amount. But, although PWCSA’s billing department definitely committed a large error by not catching this early on, it seems the Pattons are also equally responsible for their problem. They were receiving a service and were not receiving billings for it. How could they go for four years without questioning this? They should have noticed this error after a few months.
Intanetjunkie raises a very good point.
If I were in this situation, I would ask for proof that I had received the services for which I was suddenly being billed. If the PWCSA provided that proof, then I would request/offer a repayment plan. My offer would be considerably more than $5.00 per month. (Perhaps the paltry sum is why the PWCSA turned down this offer from the Pattons?) I would probably start at offering $50.00 per month to repay the debt.
If proof did not exist, then I wouldn’t pay and would very likely take it to the papers.
Do we know if the PWCSA provided proof to the Pattons?
I also concur that bad grammar isn’t an issue at all in this situation, other than as Archer pointed out appearing to make the initial PWCSA letter about as legitimate as a Nigerian email scam (which isn’t legit at all), and brining into question the accuracy of facts within the article itself.
Who cares about bad grammer and bad editing….this government run agency is allowed to go to any citizen at anytime and demand payment, even if it’s thousands of dollars when it is clearly the agency’s fault and the citizen knew nothing of what had happened. Blackhorse says they should pay for services they received, the agency can’t even tell these people how the mistake happened. How can they be certain they received the service they are being billed for now, four years later. Who gave this agency so much power that they can screw up like that and then put it back on the customer? I wonder if it happened to blackhorse what he’d say then. Why isn’t there a statute of limitations on these utility companies if they admit wrongdoing. I say shame on pwcsa and I hope the Patton’s fight the bill all the way. That’s just wrong.
The fact of the matter is the Patton’s received services for which they did not pay. They owe the money and should pay. Offering to repay @ $5.00 per month is simply unacceptable.
I do agree with Archer that editing of both the article and the letter leave much to be desired. That however does not absolve the Pattons of the financial liability they incurred for services rendered.
What a horrible situation for this family. Just demonstrates what a sorry state of affairs exists in the PWS Service Authority. I am ashamed of the governing bodies in PWC.
I have to wonder who edits these articles and who at PWCSA writes the letters. In the photo of the letter in the paper it clearly state that the Pattons owe $1934.74, not the $1760.31 that the paper quotes only 3 inches to the left. The issue with the letter is the very first sentence. If I had received this I would have thought it was a hoax and turned it over to the police for investigation. “A recent audit showed that your account did not been bill for sewer service….etc.“ It’s a sad world we live in when official correspondance is written as poorly as this. I’m not a college grad but I do know bad grammer when I read it.
This is so screwed up!So,basically they can bill us any amount at any time and say we owe back bills.I wonder how many this has happened to and it didn’t get in the paper and they had to pay it.We’re already overcharged,I pay $65 a month.I do everything I can not using as much water everyday and still the bill never goes down.I don’t think it’s really based on our use,just estimated in our area.We should all start comparing bills with neighbors.
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