MANALAPAN — Although revenues from connection fees and interest have dropped significantly over the past two years, the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority (WMUA) has held its rates stable, according to the two men who represent Manalapan on the regional sewage authority.
Manalapan residents Steve Toubin and Stephen McEnery, who are the municipal- ity’s WMUA commissioners, attended the Sept. 14 meeting of the Manalapan Township Committee to present an annual update about the utility’s operation.
According to its Internet website, the WMUA provides waste water treatment service to significant portions of Manalapan and Marlboro, as well as parts of Englishtown and Freehold Township. Formed in 1972 and jointly created by Manalapan and Marlboro, the WMUA provides service to more 25,000 customers.
The utility’s four-person board of commissioners consists of two representatives who are residents of Manalapan and two representatives who are residents of Marlboro.
The WMUA operates a headquarters building and treatment facilities on Pension Road, Manalapan.
Toubin told the members of the governing body that he had good news and bad news to deliver.
He said the bad news was that in the 10 years prior to 2010, the WMUA was earning about $2 million per year in connection fees and interest on investments. In 2010, the WMUAearned about $1 million in connection fees and interest on investments. In 2011, the WMUA is projecting to earn about $700,000 in connection fees and interest on investments.
The reduced revenue is a result of less development taking place in the authority’s service area (i.e., no new connection fees being paid to hook up to the WMUA) and the economic crisis that has driven interest rates to record lows, Toubin said.
The good news, according to Toubin, is that “we have every intention of maintaining rate stability. We give credit to our employees, they are there every day. They have been charged with making (changes in the authority’s operation) and maintaining services.”
Toubin said the WMUA has reduced its staff by 10 percent in the past few years (dividing work among remaining employees), updated its purchasing manual and completed various infrastructure upgrades using a combination of federal and state funding at attractive interest rates.
Toubin said the infrastructure upgrades “have resulted in improved employee safety and a cleaner environment.”
To bring about savings in the utility’s energy costs, the commissioners and the WMUA’s professional staff are looking into a power purchase agreement for a solar panel system.
Under the solar energy scenario being considered, a third party would install solar panels at the authority’s property and the WMUA would purchase electricity from that entity at a discounted rate that would yield a 30 to 40 percent savings (approximately $100,000 to $150,000), Toubin said .
The report from Toubin and McEnery veered from the traditional non-confrontational presentation of the state of the utility when Mayor Andrew Lucas asked if any members of the Township Committee had questions for the WMUA representatives.
Democratic Committeewoman Michelle Roth, who is running for re-election, asked McEnery, who is Manalapan’s Republican municipal chairman, if he was up to speed on a specific technical WMUA issue.
McEnery, who was appointed to the authority in January, said he was not up to speed on that technical matter.
Roth asked McEnery what his qualifications were to warrant an appointment as a WMUA commissioner, which she said pays $20,000 over a four-year term.
McEnery said, “I have 25 years of management experience across a variety of different projects and technologies.”
Roth said she believes there was a more qualified candidate for the WMUA commissioner’s position who was not considered by the rest of the committee.
At that point Lucas stopped Roth from questioning McEnery about his qualifications. The mayor told Roth that she should stop the “inquisition” and “political demagoguery.”
McEnery said, “I am not here to play political games.”
Township Attorney Roger McLaughlin, who serves as the governing body’s parliamentarian, said questions from the committee should pertain to the WMUA’s operations and not focus on the qualifications of a particular individual who serves as a commissioner.
No one else on the committee had a question for Toubin or McEnery.