Both take credit for plan to cut rates
By:Alec Moore
A proposal by Councilman Martin Wierzba to lower the cost of sewer bills last week raised the ire of Councilman Tom Weiss, who said he was already working on the matter.
At the March 24 Borough Council meeting, Mr. Wierzba had proposed that the borough look into whether it would be feasible to reduce sewer rates by $10 per quarter.
"We have a $1 million surplus in our sewer and water utility and to me that’s excessive," said Mr. Wierzba, who favors drawing down part of the surplus to reduce the quarterly bills.
"I don’t think the sewer bills should be a place where we try to increase our revenue," he continued, emphasizing that he believes the sewer surplus will be used to offset taxes.
"Let’s not take money from our left pocket and then put it in our right pocket and then make it seem like we’ve suddenly saved all this money. Forty dollars a year could be a big savings for a lot of our residents," said Mr. Wierzba, who proposed that the matter be addressed by the council’s appropriate subcommittee.
In bringing up the matter, Mr. Wierzba was quickly interrupted by Mr. Weiss, who said the matter was already being looked into.
"You should have come and talked to me about this," Mr. Weiss told Mr. Wierzba. Mr. Weiss then stated that he has been looking into the feasibility of reducing the sewer bills with the borough’s auditors.
"It’s not my job to call up Tom Weiss and say, ‘Hey, what are you working on?’" said Mr. Wierzba in a post-meeting interview. "It’s my job to listen to his committee report and I haven’t heard anything about reducing the sewer bills in his reports."
In a separate interview after the meeting, Mr. Weiss accused the Republican mayoral candidate of "playing politics" and said that he anticipates the borough will be able to reduce sewer bills.
Mr. Weiss, a Democrat, added that he had not raised the issue publicly for fear of giving the public false hope in case the sewer bills could not be reduced.
Mayor Angelo Corradino emphasized that he called for the borough to look into reducing the sewer bills during his "State of the Borough" address in January.
The mayor, a Democrat who is seeking re-election, also accused Mr. Wierzba of playing politics and of trying to mislead the public. He emphasized that money collected for the sewer utilities must remain in the sewer utility fund.
"This is just a political ploy and for him to shoot from the hip is just wrong," he said.

