NEW CARLISLE — People are furious after their monthly water bills skyrocketed.
A woman said she is used to paying $75 a month, but her newest bill was almost $440.
Another person said she paid almost $1,000.
“Something sketchy is definitely going on,” Shannon Bandy of New Carlisle said.
Bandy thought she owed $75 on her monthly water bill, but instead, she saw a bill for over $400.
“They tried to tell us we used 22,000 gallons of water,” she said.
The graph shows the spike in water over six days when she wasn’t even home.
Bandy immediately reached out to the city.
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“After begging and pleading she finally told me if I get a licensed plumber they’ll look into it,” she said.
So that’s what she did.
“He comes out no problems, no leaks, nothing everything’s great,” she said.
Bandy said she can’t imagine using 22,000 gallons of water in a day.
She claims city officials don’t care.
“They just told him sorry there’s nothing we could do about it and the man felt so terrible because he knew it was such a joke,” he said.
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News Center 7 reached out to the city about the water issue and was told no one could talk on camera but Assistant City Manager Howard Kitko was available via email.
Kitko said the reason for such a drastic spike was leaks, mainly from toilets.
Kitko also said high payments are not a city-wide problem, but Bandy disagrees.
“It’s not just one or two there’s tons and tons there was literally over 300 comments on Facebook,” she said.
Bandy said she is not satisfied with Kitko’s answers and will continue to push for her bill to be lowered.
“If everyone’s having an issue you might want to take a look at it ... we all can’t have a leaky toilet,” she said.
We will continue to look into what is causing the price increase and update as new information becomes available.
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