Resident battles council 'bureaucracy' over $15,645 water bill

The Goulburn man says there's "no way in the world" he's paying a $15,645 council water bill that arrived in his letterbox in February.

Gouburn Mulwaree Council claimed he used more than 3.6 million litres of water over 104 days, or 35,028 litres daily.

It came as a shock to the man who typically used 130 litres daily and paid $270 to $280 for water each quarter.

"Anthony lives by himself, uses water for the toilet, shower and not much else," his father, Neil explained.

"He has two tanks in the backyard that he uses on the garden. It's impossible for him to use that amount. It's a B-double full of water every day or nearly two Olympic size swimming pools.

Anthony said he was frustrated with the bureaucracy involved and that nobody at the council had "applied commonsense" to the matter.

"They wanted me to send all these emails explaining how I used all this water," he said.

"...Surely, someone could come out and say 'no, this isn't right,' and see what has happened."

Amid the numerous emails back and forth over the matter, the council sent a copy of its 'undetected water leak policy.' However Anthony said if there had been a leak of this scale, his "house would be out in the street."

The motor mechanic told The Post he repaired a small leak in a pipe last October and accepted the higher than normal $550 water bill. At that time, Anthony said the ground was soggy around the leak but there's been no such dampness in his yard since.

The council offered to check for any faults in his water meter but wanted to charge $50 for the service. Anthony argued there was nothing currently wrong with the meter and it been ticking over normally.

In March he received an overdue notice, with warning that interest would accrue at nine per cent daily on the bill.

The O'Neills enlisted Cr Bob Kirk's help. He attended the property and afterwards, the matter was escalated for a review by councillors at their May 21 meeting. This has effectively removed it from the staff decision making realm.

Anthony said while staff had listened to him, they had to abide by the council policy, which "didn't allow for commonsense." He told The Post he would accept an averaged water bill but was not paying the $15,645.

In a statement, council CEO Aaron Johansson said the organisation was required to abide by its policies and procedures in matters such as these.

"We acknowledge the resident's concern around the amount of water that has been invoiced which is clearly outside of what would be for usual domestic consumption," he said.

"A report has been prepared for the council to consider at its general meeting in May."

Neil O'Neill said the matter had been "a worry."

"We have to push for a positive result that's not a council result. Anthony doesn't want to pay the council's water bill."