The $11.8 million in overcharges is the foreseeable outcome of bad policy as we predicted - and feared. Scrambled city data nearly ended up on our tax bills and mortgages. If private citizens - not the city - hadn't caught it, this costly mistake would not have been corrected. Those 44,000 overcharges would be set in stone on our annual tax bills, and, for many, part of our mortgage payments. 

As Scott Lewis wrote on Voice of San Diego, it's hard to think of a worse place for these errors. They can result in liens and trigger defaults and foreclosures - regardless of the city's intent. 

Billing for trash service should be immediately accountable, not locked in a year in advance. Our bills should be immediately corrected when there's a change or mistake, not by promise of a credit next year. Trash service is a utility, like water, internet and electricity. Not a tax.

The billing system city officials never considered setting up - on an app they already use - will now be utilized since the County Tax Collector legally can't add fees to the 44,000 tax bills that were undercharged. 

That's good news:  city officials will use an inhouse billing system for 44,000 undercharged properties. It's a good practice run. 

We call on the mayor and city council to move the bills for trash service to where it belongs: an inhouse monthly billing system.