Princeton Township sets down procedures for billing the borough

By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
   Princeton Township Committee will soon be adopting its own resolution formalizing billing practices with Princeton Borough, following adoption of such a resolution by Princeton Borough Council earlier this month, according to the township administrator.
   ”Yes, we are adopting pretty much the same resolution that the borough approved. We think it’s appropriate,” said Township Administrator Jim Pascale.
   The resolution, governing prospective billing practices and not past amounts currently owed by either the borough or township, will be presented at the next Township Committee meeting, Mr. Pascale said, which is set for Nov. 10. Mr. Pascale said he believed the resolution would be readily adopted.
   Borough Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing “capital billing and payment practice” in its financial dealings with the township at its Oct. 7 meeting. The resolution called for the borough to regularly update joint purchase orders and present invoices to the township around the tenth of every month. It calls for payment from the township to be expected within 90 days, with interest accruing thereafter if payment is not received “at the average rate of the bonds that were issued to finance the project.”
   Asked whether a more formalized interlocal agreement needed to be adopted by the township and borough over billing, an issue that was raised at borough council, Mr. Pascale said he believed it did not. “Basically it’s an in-house document,” he said, with each municipality directing its finance department on billing standards.
   Mr. Pascale agreed that the billing resolution should be compared to a billing policy adopted by a private company, whereby the company would seek to enforce its billing policy with customers but without seeking a joint agreement with those customers.