PORTER | Porter Town Council members moved forward Tuesday night with plans to make their water billing in-house in order to save the town money in future years, voting unanimously to buy billing software.

Town Clerk-Treasurer Carol Pomeroy first proposed having the town do the billing for water use by houses, commercial units and vacant parcels and break the five-year contract with Indiana American Water Co. for billing services, which currently costs the town nearly $26,000 per year.

However, the town will have to pay $16,700 for the billing software and an additional $22,000 for setup, supplies, a bulk mail license, maintenance and nullification of the contract.

Pomeroy said it's a good move for the town for many reasons.

"We will break even in one year and four months, and after that we will save the town $11,000 a year," she said.

The town also can recover revenue from empty parcels of land that are currently not billed for stormwater services and commercial units that are charged a flat rate and not according to actual water use. There currently are 500 vacant parcels in the town, and 190 of them are owned by a single proprietor, Pomeroy said.

Council President Jon Granat said, "We're losing $60,000 a year having Indiana American bill, so I can't see how we're going to lose with this software. Plus, we can keep tighter tabs on the delinquent accounts."

Currently, Indiana American doesn't have to notify the town of a delinquent account until it is hundreds of dollars in the red. However, the new system would eliminate a second party in the process, further streamlining the system.

The council agreed to draft letters of notification to vacant parcel owners and commercial units, notifying them of the new system.

The council also moved forward with an ordinance to codify the town's ordinances, which the town has not done since 1991. An organized collection of ordinances will be available to the town on disc, and council members agreed that putting the codification online in the future would benefit the community.