La Crosse changing water utility late payments

Manager says could lead to savings

Late charges from the La Crosse water department could hurt a little less in the future. 

The city is changing the way it charges for late payments. Right now, late payment means a straight three-percent penalty added on to your bill. That, however, doesn’t get added to the next bill whether you’re late or not. The new penalty will be one percent, that compounds monthly like a credit card.

“For the majority of customers where we apply late charges, this will actually result in a savings,” Water utility manager Mark Johnson said.

Johnson added, the change is not likely to make any difference in revenue collected by the utility in late charges. The city’s board of public works considers the change at a meeting this morning.