A homeowner on Meade Avenue in Normal Heights was billed $3,152 for the city’s new trash fee, even though the correct annual charge was $534.

The $2,618 overcharge was the largest among 44,038 San Diego properties that received inflated trash fee assessments because of a city spreadsheet error.

County of San Diego data, obtained by Times of San Diego, shows 15 homes were overbilled by more than $2,000 on their property tax bills because of a city spreadsheet error.

The largest overcharges were scattered across the city, affecting homeowners in neighborhoods including Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, College Area and North Park.

In total, 1,026 property owners were overcharged by more than $1,000 in trash fees, which differs from the 640 customers that the city identified on its website.

Most of the 44,038 homeowners who received erroneous bills were overcharged between $100 and $1,000, while 13,822 were overcharged by less than $100. A total of 97 homeowners saw their trash fees increase by less than a dollar.

District 9 had the highest share of overcharged customers, with about 62.9% receiving bills above the amount they signed up to pay.

The county released the data in a public records request that was submitted by journalist Marty Graham, who was one of the first to discover the city’s mistake after reading a post on Nextdoor from a neighbor who spotted an overcharge on their bill.

Graham then got to work with a friend. They looked at the size of trash cans in their Normal Heights neighborhood and then went on the county assessor’s website to look to see if their property bill matched the receptacle size. Graham and her friend found that 34% of the homes in their unofficial survey had the wrong trash fees listed.

Graham alerted the media. The county tax collector posted a message on its website. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria soon released a statement calling for quick action.

“San Diegans deserve accurate bills, and this error is unacceptable,” Gloria said in a statement, three days after Graham first alerted the media.

“San Diegans expect their city government to be accurate and accountable,” Gloria said. “When we fall short, my responsibility is to acknowledge it, correct it, and make sure it does not happen again. That is exactly what we are doing.”