(La Porte, IN) - It’s going to cost more for water to be turned back on after being disconnected due to past-due payments in La Porte, as the city’s Board of Public Works & Safety voted to increase the reconnection fee from $20 to $75. 

In addition, the full balance of the amount owed will also have to be paid for water service to be restored. Primary reasons cited for the change include helping the water department recover its cost of disconnecting and restoring service.

Water Department Superintendent Tim Werner said he also hopes the change will cut down on the number of disconnections from people being caught up entirely on the amount owed. “What happens there [is] sometimes they get into that revolving door of, every month, us out there shutting them off because they never squared the rest of that bill up. Once they get into that revolving door it’s hard to get out of."

The new fee structure will go into effect on August 1st.