ATLANTA -- It's a story that will make your blood boil if you’re a city of Atlanta taxpayer.
A condo in one of Atlanta's most expensive neighborhoods has been paying little for water and nothing for sewer for fifteen years. The city should have collected $1 million from the 63-unit building. Instead, it looks like they'll collect nothing.
Jack Richardson has been fighting city hall and his homeowner’s association at the Phoenix Condominiums for more than a decade.
"I just believe it’s not right, it’s not equitable, it’s not fair what’s going on here. We should pay our water bills and the water and sewer services that we’ve used in the building," he told 11Alive's Valerie Hoff.
The financial analyst says he discovered back in 2003 the water bills for common areas like the pool, foundation, and landscaping at the Phoenix condominiums were surprisingly low. He also discovered there were no sewer bills at all. Last year he discovered the problem was still going on.
Now, Richardson estimates the unpaid water and sewer charges are close a million dollars. Community organizers held a press conference protesting the decision on Thursday.
"We're here to demand the city collect the money, and to demand the owners of this building pay the money," community activist Derrick Boazman.
A spokesperson for the department of Watershed Management said it’s too late to go back and bill for 15 years.
"It was not a million dollar gift. It was a billing error on our side," Lillian Govus said adding that since it was city hall’s mistake, city hall will absorb the costs.
Community activists aren't happy with that decision.
"City hall has lost its way and there’s nothing more proof positive than what is happening here at these condominiums," Georgia Rep. Vincent Fort said.
"For 10 years, this building and this owner, some of the richest people in the city including former Superintendent Errol Davis who lives here and was paid nearly a half million dollars in taxpayer money, are willing to accept a freebie," Boazman said. "Where I come from they call that stealing."
Former Atlanta School Superintendent Errol Davis was not available for comment Thursday.
