AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Gov. Paul LePage has signed a bill that prohibits Maine towns from collecting fees for ice fishing shacks.

The bill was introduced after Randolph selectmen last year voted to charge $15 fees on each smelting shack along the town's Kennebec River frontage. Smelt shack owners objected.

LePage signed the bill outlawing the fees Friday.

State law already prohibits municipalities from charging fees on lakes and ponds that are not public water supplies. The bill would extend the protection to coastal and tidal waters, and water bodies that serve as public water supplies.

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