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.