Seoul City Councilor Shin Jeong-ho: "Seoul Waterworks Headquarters Should Actively Return Waterworks Cause-Payer Fees"

Building owners who did not receive the cause-bearer fee refund... Unaware whether their buildings are included in the return target... Strong criticism of the Waterworks Headquarters' lukewarm and passive administrative attitude

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The Seoul Waterworks Headquarters, which imposes and collects the waterworks cause-based charge, has been criticized for being passive in administrative processing regarding the refund of the charge.

On the 3rd, during the 299th extraordinary session, Shin Jeong-ho, a member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council's Environment and Water Resources Committee (Democratic Party, Yangcheon 1), demanded proactive administration from the Waterworks Headquarters for the refund of the waterworks cause-based charge during the headquarters' business report.

Recently, in lawsuits requesting the cancellation of the imposition of the waterworks cause-based charge, rulings have been made that the payer of the charge within large-scale housing development complexes is the land developer, not the building actor. As a result, the obligation to refund the cause-based charge imposed and collected from the existing building actors (building owners) has arisen in Seoul and other local governments.

Until now, the cause-based charge for water facilities has been calculated according to the diameter of the incoming water supply pipe and imposed as a prepayment on the ‘building actor’ for collection.

In Seoul, lawsuits and complaints demanding refunds of the waterworks cause-based charge continue to be filed, and the Waterworks Headquarters, considering Supreme Court rulings from other local governments, is either proceeding with or planning to pay refunds for lawsuits or direct claims.

However, not all building actors who have paid previously are eligible for refunds. According to Article 82 of the Local Finance Act, charges for which the statute of limitations of five years has passed are not refundable.

The current scale of the waterworks cause-based charge that Seoul must refund amounts to 20.3 billion KRW, but only 2.6 billion KRW has been refunded to building owners (resident companies), and Shin argues that active administrative measures are needed to fulfill refunds for the remaining 17.7 billion KRW.

Additionally, Shin pointed out that “building owners who have not yet received refunds are not properly informed whether their buildings are included in the refund target or whether refunds are possible,” and expressed concern that “if the Waterworks Headquarters continues a passive response by only addressing lawsuits or direct claims without accurately notifying Seoul citizens of this fact, refunds will be difficult.”

He continued, “Seoul must alleviate the inconvenience and burden on citizens and businesses and resolve any unfair issues promptly through administrative processing,” and strongly criticized, “Although there is no obligation to notify in cases like this, failing to inform about the completion of the statute of limitations due to information asymmetry violates the principle of good faith.”

In response, Baek Ho, head of the Waterworks Headquarters, stated, “We will make every effort to secure funds and actively respond to the remaining 514 complexes, and we will seek ways to preserve costs by charging the developers LH and SH.”

Finally, Shin Jeong-ho said, “We will definitely notify the building owners of the 514 complexes before the statute of limitations expires and refund the charges,” and added, “I hope the Waterworks Headquarters will communicate with the City Council to solve problems together in the future and become a trusted organization for Seoul citizens.”