Forsyth County’s water and sewer department has been asked to share audits of its business customers with the county commission.
Commissioner Patrick Bell made the request during a work session Tuesday.
He asked department officials to bring “a list of their audits, what they’ve been doing, when they started them, what they’re finding as far as overages and underages, so that we can have an idea of what’s going on.”
Bell said he has “concerns about sewer capacity ... primarily from the newspaper articles that were in the paper Sunday.”
The articles, published in Sunday’s Forsyth County News, detail the department’s efforts to resolve sewer capacity issues over the last two years.
The situation, which went unchecked prior to 2007, has stirred confusion and frustration among the local business community.
In some cases, businesses that have exceeded their alloted capacity are being asked to pay thousands of dollars.
Tim Perkins, the county’s director of water and sewer, has said the county has collected $725,000 in back fees so far, with an additional $1.2 million in possible payments. All the money will go toward infrastructure improvement.
Bell said he’s received “several phone calls regarding the stories.”
“[I have] some concerns about this that I don’t blame any one particular person for, but I think as a board we need to address this,” he said.
“It’s a terrible hardship on some of our citizens that may or may not be unfair, but the board needs to make some decisions.”
Commissioners agreed without a vote to ask the department to review the numbers with them at a work session in the next couple weeks.
Commissioner Patrick Bell made the request during a work session Tuesday.
He asked department officials to bring “a list of their audits, what they’ve been doing, when they started them, what they’re finding as far as overages and underages, so that we can have an idea of what’s going on.”
Bell said he has “concerns about sewer capacity ... primarily from the newspaper articles that were in the paper Sunday.”
The articles, published in Sunday’s Forsyth County News, detail the department’s efforts to resolve sewer capacity issues over the last two years.
The situation, which went unchecked prior to 2007, has stirred confusion and frustration among the local business community.
In some cases, businesses that have exceeded their alloted capacity are being asked to pay thousands of dollars.
Tim Perkins, the county’s director of water and sewer, has said the county has collected $725,000 in back fees so far, with an additional $1.2 million in possible payments. All the money will go toward infrastructure improvement.
Bell said he’s received “several phone calls regarding the stories.”
“[I have] some concerns about this that I don’t blame any one particular person for, but I think as a board we need to address this,” he said.
“It’s a terrible hardship on some of our citizens that may or may not be unfair, but the board needs to make some decisions.”
Commissioners agreed without a vote to ask the department to review the numbers with them at a work session in the next couple weeks.