S.R. electric rate surcharge dropped End of surcharge draws charge of politics

Staff Writer

By Takesha Pettus

S.R. electric rate
surcharge dropped
End of surcharge draws charge
of politics


The recent decision to rescind South River’s electric rate surcharge has become a topic of debate among council members.

At the Nov. 1 meeting, the Borough Council agreed to adopt an ordinance to eliminate the 18-cent surcharge that has been imposed on residents for the past eight months.

The surcharge, imposed in March, was said to be in part the result of the borough’s 1999 decision to purchase bulk electricity.

The surcharge will end for residents on Jan. 31.

Councilman Shawn Hausser-mann voted in favor of the ordinance but questioned why the council did not rescind the surcharge at the end of this year.

"We should be changing it as of Dec. 31," Haussermann said.

Haussermann said he believes that the council wanted to wait an additional month into the new year to pad the budget for 2001.

But according to Hausser-mann, the decision to rescind the surcharge at the end of January was because Borough Business Administrator Charles Kolakowski felt that the borough had enough funding to purchase electricity for the remainder of the year without taxing residents any longer.

"We are constantly being criticized for not moving fast enough, and now that we put things on the agenda, we get criticized for that," said Councilman Tele Koukourdelis.

Sliker said the borough needed to recoup $700,000 when the surcharge was first implemented. The borough had expected that it would take a year to recoup the funding, but it is now expected that it will take 10 months, he said.

The council had originally planned on ending the surcharge on March 31, but the council recently amended the original ordinance to allow the surcharge to end on Jan. 31.

"The timing is impeccable," said Raymond Eppinger, Theresa Place.

Eppinger questioned the council’s decision to rescind the surcharge so close to the Nov. 7 elections.

Sliker denied that politics had anything to do with the decision.

"We are not the ones injecting politics into this," said Sliker. "You are the one injecting politics into this."

"Everybody needs to remember why 18 cents was put on in the first place," said Eppinger.