Fulton County will review and verify water billing records for six major service accounts that the city of Atlanta claims are past due.

Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whitmore said county staff met with city of Atlanta staff on May 28.  Atlanta agreed to provide billing and payment data back to 2008 because that is the timeframe for which they have information available.

Atlanta had previously sent a spreadsheet showing accounts and past due claims, but without invoices or bills. The county asked for a complete accounting of the bills.

Whitmore said after staff validates the records, Atlanta and Fulton will review the findings together. Whitmore said she expects the review process to be completed within the next two weeks.

Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington said he had hoped they would have narrowed the timeframe down to four or seven years. He believes, under the city’s own policies, the farthest back they can go would be seven years, which is also a state statute.

Arrington said narrowing the scope would have decreased the amount of work Whitmore’s staff has to do to reconcile city data to county records.

County Attorney Soo Jo said her understanding is that the largest amount of debt the city claims Fulton owes appears to predate any records that they have and may reach back beyond what the city legally can collect.

Finance staff is reviewing the records to look for overpayments or billed for properties it either does not own or has never owned. Whitmore said they want to look back beyond the statute of limitations because the county may be owed some credits.