Sewer bills have some seeing red
Ablang
Homeowners are stunned to learn they owe large sums to Sacramento
County.
By Judy Lin -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, December 25, 2005
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1
About 450 Sacramento city property owners are being back-billed for
sewer fees after an audit found that a number of new developments,
many of them in North Natomas, haven't been paying the county for
sewer service at all.
The back bills were sent out several weeks ago and can carry service
charges for as long as three years. The hefty bills have confused many
homeowners who thought they were paying for their utilities all along.
"I was surprised to see an extra charge," said condo owner Cole
Herstam, who received a $250 bill from County Sanitation District 1
despite paying a homeowner association fee that includes utilities.
"Quite frankly the developer was supposed to include all those utility
charges in our (association dues)," Herstam said.
It's unclear what caused the billing error, which primarily occurred
in newer developments serviced by Sacramento County's sewer system.
One county official speculated that developers may have been
inconsistent about acquiring sewer permits or that paperwork wasn't
processed correctly.
The billing error may rekindle talk of consolidating the region's
sewer system, which is currently operated by various city and county
agencies with overlapping boundaries.
The error initially was caught in one of three audits requested by the
Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District to make sure that
contributing agencies were paying their fair share for sewage
services.
The regional sanitation district is responsible for main lines and
treatment plants, but three contributing agencies - County Sanitation
District 1 and the cities of Sacramento and Folsom - collect fees,
operate pump stations and maintain local pipes.
While auditors have completed work on County Sanitation District 1 and
Folsom, officials are still waiting on the city of Sacramento before
turning all three audits to the board for review.
According to a draft of County Sanitation District 1's audit, the
county could be losing as much as $218,000 each year and the regional
sanitation district $293,000 a year from 1,270 developed parcels in
the city of Sacramento.
While the city bills those parcels for utilities such as garbage and
water, they aren't being billed for sewer services.
"We said, 'Oh my gosh, we'd better check into this,' " said Ray
LeVitt, administrator of the county's Consolidated Utilities Billing
System.
By using the county assessor's database and on-site inspections, 450
parcels were identified that needed to be billed by the county.
Many of the 1,270 parcels identified by the audit already were in the
process of receiving permits or couldn't be billed because they used
septic tanks or received exemptions, LeVitt said.
The county began sending out bills as early as October, with most
going to newer developments, particularly in North Natomas.
LeVitt suspects that some developers may not have completed all their
sewer permits or that some type of clerical error occurred.
"It's like hopscotch. One time they did everything right, and the next
they didn't," he said.
County officials say they are allowing property owners to pay in
installments and will begin quarterly audits to make sure that
everyone who uses the service is billed.
The back bills surprised Cole Herstam and his fiancée, Kellie Carter,
as well as many of their neighbors at the 245-unit Syrah Condominiums.
Bay Area resident Danny Cheng, who rents out his unit, received a $139
bill for six months of unpaid sewer bills.
He, too, thought his monthly homeowner association dues included
garbage, water and sewer services.
Tonia Ruzzamenti recalled getting a bill for more than $200 for the
time she's been at Syrah.
"I thought, 'Wait a second, don't we already pay it?'" Ruzzamenti
said.
Their property manager, Susan Oliver, is now trying to get the county
to consolidate bills so the homeowner association can make one payment
for everyone in the development.
"They freaked everyone out by sending out this huge bill," Oliver
said. "(Owners) think they're going to lose their house over this
bill, and they're not."
Oliver said condo owners have been notified not to pay the bills.
However, with residents accumulating eight months' worth of unpaid
sewage fees, it will take a while to sort out the cost, she said.
To prevent future billing errors, the audit recommended that
Sacramento take responsibility for sewerage within city limits rather
than keeping the current system of two agencies - city and county -
billing residents.
However, previous efforts to consolidate sewer control failed, and the
board of the regional sanitation district isn't expected to act on the
audits until the new year.
The region's complex sewer system stems from growth.
When Sacramento expanded its city limits decades ago, its boundaries
overlapped in places with those of the county sanitation district.
Though the city bills most of its property owners for sewer service,
approximately 54,100 parcels are the county's responsibility.
Building and sewer permits for most parcels have to be obtained from
the city. In the overlapping areas, building permits must be obtained
from the city and sewer permits from the county.
"This split jurisdiction can cause confusion among property owners and
raises the risk of sewer permits not being obtained from the county
when all other authorizations are provided by the city," the audit
stated.
Claudia Goss, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Water
Resources, said it doesn't make sense to have the city annex county
pipes because they are separate infrastructures.
"County and city lines flow into the regional lines, not through each
other," she said.
The city of Sacramento disagrees. City officials plan to resurrect a
failed 1998 proposal to allow the city to collect for all sewer
services.
The county followed up with its own study in 2000 recommending a
takeover of the city's sewer agency. Neither plan was adopted.
"We haven't given up on that in the city," said Gary Reents, director
of Sacramento's utilities department. "We think it makes it more
efficient for the city to have one group of folks do the billing."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/local_government/story/14015397p-14848048c.html
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-- Bonzi Wells, Sacramento Kings
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