No mercy for huge water bill leaves a late La Salle man’s family angry

If you ask his son, Dominic Visione of La Salle was a nice man who paid his city bill on time for 55 years. Seven months after his death, Visione’s son is paying an $878 city bill because a toilet was running for about 11 days.

Dominic “Nick” Visione made it clear to the city council Tuesday night that he felt the city is wrong for having a “no mercy” policy for people who inadvertently run up a huge water and sewer bill. Visione says other towns like Peru, and larger cities like San Francisco, California and Tampa, Florida have forgiveness policies.

The spike in water usage was noticed by a city employee in late November. Visione was contacted and the water was shut off inside of the home. He wonders why the water tracking system didn’t notice the unusual usage sooner.

Many of the aldermen and Mayor Jeff Grove sounded sympathetic but defended their policy. Finance Director John Duncan says the city paid for the treatment and delivery of the water. He says he doesn’t think it would be fair to make other tax payers have to split the cost.

Visione is paying the bill in installations.