Over a period of seven years, about 500 residents of Freeport, Texas, were overbilled

for their water usage. Each resident paid on average about $170 too much, making the

total amount of the overbillings about $100,000. The city council decided not to issue

refunds, saying that about 300,000 bills would have had to be examined, some residents

had left town, and the individual refunds were not that large [61]. Did the city council

make the right decision?