City says water meter has not worked since 2019!

[Brandon Sturgill]

About a month ago we got notice from the city (they provide water utility) that the meter of a property we manage was "not working properly"...they needed access to look at it...a couple of weeks later we get a call from the owner who has a $1,200 water bill in hand. The city explained to us that the water meter has not been working since 2019 and they basically made up a dollar amount and sent the owner a bill. 

The problem is the owner is trying to pass the bill to the tenant in full, who has been in the unit for 11 months starting in 2020...and who is already back-billed for water usage.

The city has not provided the exact date when the meter stopped working...my inclination is to decline to pass the bill to the tenant and call it the owners problem....thoughts?

(as a point of clarification, our city requires water to remain with the owner because delinquencies become a lien on the property- the city does permit a direct bill to the tenant, but ultimately the owner is still 100% responsible for the bill)