City to Pay for Charges on Services Not Rendered

The city of Los Angeles has agreed to make an estimated $2 million to $4 million in reimbursements to residents who mistakenly paid for sewer services they did not receive.

Under an agreement between the city and state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), the city will make the refunds after a study identifies residents who unknowingly paid sewer fees even though they were on private systems.

The city agreed to the reimbursements after an Assembly panel approved legislation that would make the city’s sewer billing system illegal beginning Jan. 1, Katz said Wednesday.

Department of Water and Power billing procedures that took effect in 1978 charged all water customers for sewer services, whether or not they were connected to the system. Users of septic tanks and other private disposal systems could apply for exemptions, but many failed to do so because they did not read or could not understand annual inserts in water bills explaining their rights, said Fred Nakamura, an attorney for San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, who filed a claim seeking refunds for eight Pacoima septic tank users.

Nakamura said the suit will be unnecessary if his clients are reimbursed promptly. The city must make the refunds by July 1, 1991.

Los Angeles officials are uncertain how many residents are entitled to refunds, but with households paying an average of $10.43 a month in sewer fees, Katz said some residents could receive refunds of several thousand dollars.

“Homeowners have been ripped off because the city of Los Angeles was too lazy to find out if they were hooked up to the sewer system,” said Katz, whose district includes Pacoima. “The Department of Water and Power has been operating with a ‘collect now, hope they don’t ask questions’ mentality, and that’s just wrong. People should not have to pay for services they don’t receive.”