Whenever an error or oversight is discovered on any property regarding a FFBC charge, the Commission is obligated to correct the account. If the error involves a failure to levy an appropriate FFBC, the Commission, once it discovers the error, will assess the property at the rate(s) and classification in effect at the time of line construction. For a nonabutting property the assessment will be based upon rates in effect at the time of the property’s connection to WSSC. The assessment will run for a period of time equivalent to the term of the bond secured to finance construction of the line which abuts or serves the property.

If ownership of the property has changed since the assessment should have begun, excluding the initial sale by the developer or builder, WSSC will assess the property for a period equal to the term of the bond secured to finance the relevant line’s construction, less the number of years which have elapsed between the time the assessment should have begun and the date of last ownership change. For example: WSSC discovers in 1998 that a property should have been assessed beginning January 1990 for a period of 23 years. The current owners also purchased the property in 1995. The annual assessment would begin in 1999, the first calendar year after the error is discovered, and run for 17 years (23 years minus the six years which elapsed from 1990 through 1995). (Property assessments manual § 1.5, dated October 1998)