$690K In Unpaid Bills: City Of Atlanta Restores Water For Delinquent Apartment Complex

ATLANTA, GA -- The city of Atlanta said this week that it had turned the water back on at the Sierra Ridge Apartments in southeast Atlanta after its owners failed to pay their utility bills for more than two years despite charging its residents for the service. The crisis has left families without water just as many of their children head back to school.

Mayor Kasim Reed and the Department of Watershed Management announced Monday that the city's measures were necessary so that residents who had dutifully been paying their bills could find alternative housing and / or the apartments could pay its severely delinquent water bills. (SIGN UP: For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. Or if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

“The owners of the Sierra Ridge apartment complex have been collecting rents from tenants every month, but have not paid their water bills in more than two years,” said Mayor Kasim Reed in a statement. “The property owners have declined to take advantage of the billing amnesty program and have refused to enter into any payment agreement to resolve the debt."

Reed said that the coming days would offer an opportunity for the situation to be righted.

"We hope that during this two week period, the property manager does the right thing for its tenants and the public by paying what it owes," he said.

Across four accounts that service the property, the combined water bill is $690,000 past due, the city said. About 40 units in the nearly 300 unit complex are occupied.

The Department of Watershed Management is working with the Mayor’s Office of Constituent Services and the Mayor’s Office of Human Services to come up with resources for the residents, the city said.

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