This is almost too stupid to be true:

The Seattle City Council is expected Tuesday to approve a surcharge on city water customers to help cover the cost of a $22 million court-ordered rebate to water customers.

As a result of the latest court decision, anyone who was a Seattle Public Utilities water customer between March 2002 and December 2004 is due a refund under a court order issued in October. But current water customers will be the ones paying the bill.

So, basically, water customers will be charged for the rebate they're going to receive. Except we're not getting a rebate because we weren't a water customer back when water customers were overcharged, so we get to pay for other customers' rebates.