Water rates will rise 5.5% tomorrow

BY DANIELLE MEDINA
Correspondent

If there's a silver lining to the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA) rate hike, which goes into effect April 1, it's that the increase was originally slated to be higher than it is this year.

At the BTMUA's annual rate hearing on Monday, authority commissioners unanimously approved a 5.5 percent rate increase for its 35,600 water and sewer customers.

The average customer, consuming 15,000 gallons of water quarterly, will pay an additional $8.78 per quarter, or about $35 annually.

"This is the way it is. When we do our budgets at home, we see our gas bills go up, our electric bills go up, our food bills go up," said authority Chairman Patrick Bottazzi. "I'm very proud and happy that the increase is so low."

The 5.5 percent overall rate increase translates to a 4.6 percent increase for water and a 6.3 percent increase for sewer service.

In 2002, when authority officials planned the 2006-07 budget, the rate increase was expected to be 7.5 percent.

However, the addition of Parkway Water Co.'s 1,858 customers last year has allowed the authority to offset the increase to its customers.

By selling bulk water to the residents in the Ramtown section of Howell, the authority nets an additional $500,000 in revenues annually.

"It's a win-win for us as a water purveyor and people who buy water from us," said BTMUA commissioner Salvatore Petoia. "We're able to spread our costs over a wider base and keep costs down."

The water rate for the authority's bulk customers - Parkway Water, Point Pleasant Beach and Point Pleasant Borough - is expected to increase from $3.49 per thousand gallons to $3.64 per thousand gallons, according to authority figures.

Authority Director of Finance Frank Planko said the rate should be finalized within the next two weeks.

"We're fortunate to have a continued source of water," said Point Pleasant Beach Council President Jim Liotta, who attended the rate hearing. "But I would be disingenuous if I said we weren't concerned about rising costs."

Before the BTMUA began supplying Point Pleasant Beach with 100 percent of its daily water needs, residents had to deal with rust and salt in their drinking water, Liotta said.

During his presentation, BTMUA Executive Director Kevin Donald said the authority will garner $1.5 million in additional revenue from the increase - $613,000 on the water side and $918,000 on the sewer side.

The increase is necessary to cover the BTMUA's increasing operating costs, to repay its debt and to fund future capital projects, including the ongoing sewer pipe relining and replacement project, Donald said.

The presentation also detailed the way the authority finds alternate sources of revenue, from leasing space on its water towers for cellular phone antennas to conducting water-testing services.

By encouraging and rewarding safe work habits of employees out in the field, the authority keeps its worker compensation claims down.

Donald also compared the rates that BTMUA customers pay as compared to customers of other water companies and townships in Ocean and Monmouth counties. At $48.11 per 10,000 gallons per quarter, the BTMUA's rates are below the median and the average of the 14 water purveyors in those two counties.

At the low end is the Lakewood MUA, which charges $26.80 per 10,000. New Jersey American Water Co. rated highest with charges totaling $110.86.

New Jersey American Water is a privately owned company that sells water across New Jersey, including customers in Bay Head, Mantoloking and Howell, officials said.

Following the rate hearing, the authority unanimously adopted its $32 million 2006-07 budget, which was approved by the state in January.