Borough seeks a "full explanation;" township says that has already been provided
By Nick Norlen
Staff Writer
A decade after a similar exchange, Princeton Borough Attorney Michael Herbert has sent a letter to the township requesting a “full explanation” of its position on Borough Councilman David Golfarb’s allegation that the township owes the borough millions of dollars in sewer connection revenues.
Mr. Goldfarb has said that sewer connection fees collected by the township have been devoted to paying for the construction of a pump station on Mount Lucas Road, rather than being contributed to the municipalities’ joint sewer rehabilitation trust fund.
Township Administrator James Pascale has responded by stating that the township paid for the pump station solely with its own resources, and by noting that the township will begin contributing those connection fees when the debt from the pump station is paid off.
Mr. Pascale has also said that Mr. Goldfarb has repeatedly been given documentation on the issue.
Along with its request for documents pertaining to the issue, Mr. Herbert’s letter acknowledges that Mr. Pascale has responded to Mr. Goldfarb’s claims.
Most recently, that response came in the form of Mr. Pascale’s e-mail reply to a list of points about the use of the connection fees sent to borough and township officials by Mr. Goldfarb on Aug. 17.
In the e-mail, Mr. Goldfarb cites what he says are “two problems” with the township’s claim that it is entitled to use the connection fees to pay off the pump station: the fact that borough users “share the cost of repairing and maintaining the sewers” in that area and are therefore indirectly financing the township’s pumping station.
In his reply, Mr. Pascale says that the station’s financing was undertaken completely by the township and “had nothing to do with” the Sewer Operating Committee, which oversees the use of the rehabilitation funds.
”To me, the biggest problem with Mr. Goldfarb’s comments are how they are potentially damaging to the relations between our two communities” he says, later mentioning current plans by both municipalities to create an agreement to jointly use Sewer Operating Committee lands owned by the borough.
However, Mr. Goldfarb, the borough representative on the joint sewer operating committee, said Thursday that he plans to bring up the connection fee issue when the two municipalities meet to discuss that “somewhat unrelated” issue in the fall.
”The township is feeling a great deal of pressure to gain access to the SOC lands because they want to build their public works facility out there,” he said. “We have some leverage that I intend to use here to try to get them to address this issue that has been lingering for 10 years.”
Mr. Goldfarb previously raised the issue in 1997 by writing a letter to fellow Sewer Operating Committee members.
Eventually, after the committee chairman contacted the township about the issue, Township Attorney Ed Schmierer responded with a proposal to the borough.
The summary Mr. Schmierer’s letter states that the pump station “was clearly intended to be constructed and paid for through the sale of the Montgomery capacity and through connection fees.
”The Township, therefore, expects to be able to continue to collect connection fees until it is made whole on this capital project,” the document reads. “However, we believe that there is a fair mechanism for establishing a system-wide collection fee after the Township has recouped its capital costs.”
According to Mr. Goldfarb, that proposal was rejected.

