Covington homeowners surprised by their unusually high stormwater utility bills this month are advised to call the Covington City Hall.

According to Bobby Johnson, system information manager for the city of Covington, of the 5,400 stormwater bills sent out this month approximately 3,000 bills were affected by a software glitch which did not factor in earlier paid credits to accounts.

Homeowners who elected to pay half of their yearly stormwater utility bill in July would not have seen the credit added to their account in November. Johnson said this software glitch has since been corrected.

The glitch was in the report writer which generates a printout of the bill, not on the city's database which keeps a record of all stormwater accounts Johnson said. Homeowners who chose to wait until November to pay their full stormwater bill were not affected by the billing error.

After previously contracting with another company for the billing service, Johnson said the city chose to bring that service in-house this year with a new computer application.

"The first statement we sent out with this custom application we had written in July was correct," Johnson said.

Customers can come to Covington City Hall and receive a corrected stormwater bill. If they unknowingly paid the full amount of November's bill after already paying in July, Johnson said they will receive a credit to their account which will be reflected in their 2008 stormwater bill.

"The next time we bill which will be in July of next year a credit will be deducted from their account at that time," Johnson said.

Customers with questions on their stormwater bills are advised to call Covington customer service at (770) 385-2000.