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A letter from the municipality received Thursday had many property owners up in arms.

The letter notified its recipients that a June 2015 billing mistake now equates to property owner being charged $50 retroactively.

The billing mistake was discovered by municipal auditor David Kaplan, who said the third quarter water bills were downloaded improperly, charging residents for two months instead of the required three months of usage.

In response, city officials determined the best way to make up the shortfall was to divide the deficit equally.

“We’re deeply disappointed that this happened,” Mayor John Moor said “We’re not looking to gouge anybody but we can’t eat this mistake. For us to go through all the bills retroactively, it would cost us over $100,000. We thought this was the most fair way to handle a deficit  that needs to be corrected.”

The mistake was done by a previous employee who incorrectly downloaded the NJ American Water 2015 third quarter usage, Moor said.

“As a city on transitional aid, we can’t write off a $400,000 loss to a utility that is running a deficit,” Moor said. “This is not a knee jerk reaction, we thought this was the right reaction.”

Moor said he knows that there are multi unit properties that will make off by only paying the $50 retroactive bill but for those who believe they owe less, “we will absolutely work to make sure you are not paying too much.”

Residents who have their 2015 third quarter bill can work with city hall to determine the exact amount due from the uncharged usage, Moor said.

The $50 bill is not part of the current billing and will be due within 60 days of the receipt of the letter, officials said.

“I don’t blame people for being upset,” Moor said. “If they believe they were overcharged we urge them to the get in touch with the tax office.

“We knew we would get hit on this because we told everyone it was going on during our last two meetings,” Moor said. “Nothing that was done in a vacuum.”

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