Council will vote on water utility rate hike
Hearing on plastic bag ordinance set for March 10
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer

RED BANK - Residents should think about ways to cut down on the amount of water used on a daily basis, because water rates in Red Bank may soon rise.

Current water rates are $4.40 per 100 cubic feet of water, but if an ordinance introduced by the Borough Council Feb. 27 is passed, the rates could increase to $4.84 per 100 cubic feet of water.

After a lengthy discussion and fierce opposition from the two Republican council members, Mary-Grace Cangemi and John Curley, the council passed the ordinance for introduction at the Feb. 27 council meeting with a 4-2 vote.

"It doesn't seem like the problem is even with the water utility. The problem is that all of us around this table authorized the spending of very large expenditures on capital projects which are directly related to water and sewer projects which are very expensive," said Mayor Pasquale Menna.

The final hearing on the ordinance will take place March 10 at 5:30 p.m.

According to the ordinance, sewer rates will also increase from the current rate of $5.28 per 100 cubic feet to $5.81 per 100 cubic feet.

Menna said the increase is due to the costs of capital improvements in the borough in the past, which have reached $2.4 million, the $1,140,000 cost of fire hydrant, pump station and water main improvements, and the cost of a Maple Avenue sewermain reconstruction at about $2million.

"Once we vote for that, we have to pay the interest on those projects, so what has triggered this increase is … basically the cost of borrowingmoney to repair what are extremely old infrastructure needs. Frankly, if we had been repairing these every year since 1940 or 1950, we probably wouldn't be having these things all hit us at the same time," said Menna, adding, "We have to get the contractors here and ultimately we have to pay the bill and it's unfortunately very expensive."

BoroughAdministrator Stanley Sickles also explained that some of the biggest water users are those properties that are tax-exempt in the borough.

"If we don't increase these rates and pass these costs on to the users of the water utility, we have to make up this difference and it will come from the taxpayers, whereas now … [the] utility is going to bill the users, and some of our biggest users are some of our biggest tax-exempt properties," said Sickles.

Curley argued that the problem was an administrative one and called for a comprehensive review at an operations level.

"We've siphoned money because of overspending, because we don't stay within our cap, and we've taken money from the different utilities…and moved it into the general fund. I just think if we didn't spend money upfront, if we stayed within our budget caps, then we wouldn't have to tap our utilities and continue. We need to curb expenditures," said Curley.

Cangemi compared the water rates from nearby towns like Little Silver that use privately owned New JerseyAmerican Water, to the increasing rates in Red Bank.

She said New Jersey American Water customers pay $3.57 cents per 100 cubic feet of water, which includes most neighboring towns.

"The fact is, it's still our taxpayers, our residents paying a lot more money for water and I think it's something that really bears investigating," said Cangemi.

Councilman Michael DuPont, who chairs the finance committee, agreed that at least one problem occurred as the result of sending out the bills too late, which meant a loss in revenue.

DuPont said the costs could be reviewed during the upcoming budget hearings, which are set to take place at the March 10 council meeting.

Also on the agenda was the introduction of a plastic bag ordinance sponsored by DuPont.

According to the ordinance, all stores that offer non-compostable or non-recyclable bags or those that offer recyclable bags shall provide containers or bins for the disposal of such items.

The Education and Technology committee, which includes borough school administrators, is going to come up with a plan for a district-wide student project to decrease the number of plastic bags in the borough.

"One of the things that was suggested was that the students would collect bags and do research on the impact that plastic bags have on the environment, especially on our rivers [and] our open spaces," said Councilwoman Nancy Horgan of the longterm project.

Future projects that were discussed by the committee include a community garden where organic fruits and vegetables would be grown; increased participation in the Parks and Recreation programs; focusing on performing arts programs and events; and increased participation in holiday events, according to Horgan.

Cangemi said the Red Bank Environmental Commission (RBEC) would also be working with the schools in the effort to reduce the number of plastic bags in the borough.

She said that through a recycling grant, the RBEC would be purchasing 500 reusable tote bags to give away to residents who pledge to use the reusable bags instead of those made of plastic.

According to Cangemi, the RBEC will work with the schools to design the pledge and brochure to be given out with the recyclable bags.

A second hearing on the plastic bag ordinance will take place March 10 at 5:30 p.m.