Four towns make water fight official

Steve Goodell: “The lawsuit maintains that water revenues should only be used for the water utility. The people in the four townships have no say in the city government, so their water revenues shouldn’t be used fo

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   Hopewell, Ewing, Lawrence and Hamilton townships filed a lawsuit against the Trenton Water Works on Tuesday in an effort to overturn a recent 40 percent water rate increase.
   Residents of the four townships, along with residents of the city itself, are customers of the water company.
   Hopewell Township users of Trenton water include residents of the 1,300-unit Brandon Farms development in the southeastern section of the township. The Hopewell Grant and Wellington Manor developments, near Brandon Farms and comprised of several hundred residential units, also use Trenton water. Most of the residents in the rest of the 58-square-mile township get their water from private wells.
   The lawsuit says Trenton should not be allowed to use water revenues in the city’s general operating budget. The lawsuit maintains that this practice is unconstitutional. Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer and other city officials have said the practice is legal and that the rate increase was necessary to cover increasing expenses, including improvements to the Water Works infrastructure. That infrastructure includes a reservoir, pumping stations and pipelines into the four towns that have filed the lawsuit. City officials have said that the 40 percent rate increase approved by a 5-2 Trenton City Council vote last month translates to a rate increase of about $30 per quarter, from $75 to $105, for the typical residential customer.
   Hopewell Township municipal attorney Steve Goodell said Wednesday that the lawsuit maintains that the city’s use of water revenues in Trenton’s general operating budget is unconstitutional. “The lawsuit maintains that water revenues should only be used for the water utility. The people in the four townships have no say in the city government, so their water revenues shouldn’t be used for the expenses of that government.”
   The lawsuit may be rendered moot soon because of a pending sale, for $100 million, of the Trenton Water Works to New Jersey American Water Company, a corporation with offices in Cherry Hill. That sale must be approved by the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) before it goes through. The BPU is considering the matter now.
   ”The lawsuit will be moot if the sale goes through,” Mr. Goodell said. “We filed the suit to preserve our right to contest the water rate increase.”
   The mayors and other officials of all four towns that filed the lawsuit have been opposing the sale of the water works for months. Mayor Jack Ball of Ewing has predicted that an overall rate increase of at least 100 percent is likely if New Jersey American Water makes the purchase.