How Much Trouble Am I In? Need Opinions.

HERE ARE THE DETAILS!!!!!!! Don't know how to post them any other way....!!!

Okay, here's the deal. When I began comparing my water bill with neighbors, I found that ours was twice as much as another couple's....and the same as another family who has 2 adults, 1 teenager, 1 teen-aged mom, and a toddler. That got me to thinking that I had a leak. Tom went down in the crawl space to see what he could see -- no leaks. Sooooo, I called a friend who used to work for the water dept to see who I should talk to about getting a new meter and a refund if it was found that the meter was broken....which I'm sure it is. He said, "Maggie, don't let the village go into yur crawlspace because Eric (the previous owner) tapped the village line before the meter to his outside nozzles. He was a landscaper...had an elaborate garden in front....had a huge above-ground pool in the back....and had bragged to my neighbor that it was all free because he'd re-routed the pipes. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!!!!

Well, okay, so I call a plumber to fix it...it's going to cost prolly $1500 or so...and the plumber said he had to report it to the village. NOW!! I've lived here eleven years!!!! OMG!!!! What are they going to do???? He's bringing the Water Dept Manager out Monday morning.....HELLLPPPPP!!!!!