Sewer hikes shouldn’t hurt residents

Sewage treatments won’t come out of taxpayer’s pockets

By: Bill Greenwood
   Residents won’t be affected by an increase in the amount the township pays to have its sewage treated, said Mayor Frank Gambatese.
   Mayor Gambatese said the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority will charge the township $450,000 more to process the sewage. However, a 2005 sewage rate increase of 8 percent charged by the township has provided enough of a surplus that the hike will be offset.
   Mayor Gambatese said he expects that rates charged to users outside of the township, including Plainsboro, North Brunswick and Cranbury and smaller users elsewhere, also will remain the same. He said Stony Brook counts the flow from these users as if it came from South Brunswick.
   "These towns that are giving us their sewage in certain areas, it’s part of our flow into Stony Brook, and they charge us by flow," Mayor Gambatese said. "So consequently, technically, we get an increase."
   Stony Brook follows a two-part formula when determining how much to charge a township for the year, according to Executive Director John Kantorek.
   He said the first part is the base charge, which covers Stony Brook’s operational and maintenance costs, as well as debt service.
   Stony Brook charges customers based on the amount of sewage that goes through its facilities. At the beginning of every year, Stony Brook uses the average amount of flow a customer has over five years to estimate the amount to charge. That number could change at the end of the year when actual use is calculated. He said the base charge is increasing $217,000.
   The second part is project debt service adjustment— the principal and interest on all bonds sold by the authority to fund construction or buy tools. The payment is made to customers by other customers to make sure no community has paid too much for debt service in the past, said Mr. Kantorek. Project debt service adjustment will increase by $233,000.
   Mayor Gambatese said he believes the authority’s formula benefits smaller towns, like Princeton, while punishing those with larger populations.
   "(Princeton) only has maybe 14,000 people," he said. "Here, we’ve got 43,000 people. So, they’re penalizing us for the large community that we are, and I find that to be a little disheartening."
   However, Mr. Kantorek said, the above policies are all outlined in the authority’s service rules, which have been agreed to by all six communities in the authority.