Jersey City residents will see a 24 percent jump in their combined water/sewer bill starting on Jan. 1.
That’s because the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority Board of Commissioners voted at their board meeting on Oct. 29 to raise the combined water/sewer rate from this year’s $6.58 per 100 cubic feet to $8.15 per 100 cubic feet. A hundred cubic feet is equal to 748 gallons.
The sewer rate alone will soar from this year’s $3.25 per ccf (100 cubic feet) to $4.70 per ccf, a 45 percent hike. However, the water rate only went up from $3.33 per ccf to $3.45 per ccf, a 3.75 percent increase. Thus, there is a combined 24 percent hike.
Fulop calls it a “backdoor tax.”
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According to MUA Executive Director Dan Becht, the increase is going into effect because of various factors – from shrinking revenues from sewer connection fees in 2010 to the increased cost of upgrading the city’s century-old sewer system.
Becht defended the increase, saying the sewer rate had been at the same level since the 1990s and had not kept up with cost-of-living increases. Yet the MUA in December 2005 did pass a resolution that provides for annual 3.75 percent increases during the years 2006 -2015 to keep up with rising costs.
Homeowners will be paying an average of $144 more on their yearly bill, or $12 per month. The next bill reflecting the change in the rate will not be due until March.
The homeowners and others affected by the increase might have had an opportunity to speak on the changing rate before the commissioners voted, but the board meeting and public hearing was held at 5 p.m. The only member of the public present was a reporter.
City Councilman Steven Fulop took issue with the increase after the meeting.
He had heard that Becht had informed Mayor Jerramiah Healy about a hike in the rate but had not told the council. Fulop calls it a “backdoor tax.”
“I don’t understand how the MUA could do this as families are struggling in this tough economy,” Fulop said last week. “At the very least, the MUA should have made a presentation to the City Council on why they are doing this.”
Fulop plans to address this issue at the next City Council caucus, scheduled for Nov. 9.
What the public should know
Fulop isn’t the only one who thinks the MUA should have made a public presentation on the MUA’s increase.
Mayor Jerramiah Healy said he had heard two months ago that the MUA was looking to raise the combined water/sewer rate, but couldn’t recall if he was told by Becht or by the city’s business administrator, Brian O’Reilly.
“I think Dan should make a presentation to advise the council that the MUA wants to increase the rate,” Healy said. “It’s only proper.”
The MUA is an autonomous agency not under the jurisdiction of city government. The mayor recommends the MUA commissioners, and the City Council approves them. There are five commissioners who sit on the MUA board, with two alternates.
More reasons
The 2010 sewer budget is projected at $48.3M, which is $4.1 million more than the previous year’s budget of $44.2M. The projected 2010 water budget is $51.9 million, a decrease of $653,000 from the prior year’s budget.
The MUA says the increase in the sewer portion is due to an additional $1.15 million that must be spent on sewer repairs and improvements, a $1 million loan repayment to the water division, $500,000 in sewage treatment costs, $200,000 in debt service for other projects, and $1.2 in cost of living expense increases for workers.
The budget breakdown document says, “a slowing economy should not greatly impact wastewater production, but it may slow the collection process. A slowing economy may also decrease our connection fee collections.”
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.