LAWRENCE: Residents face double-digit sewer hike

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Although the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority’s proposed budget for 2012 is expected to increase by less than 1 percent, residents in both municipalities are facing a double-digit increase in their sewer fees.
   Township Council is preparing to introduce an ordinance later this month that would raise the sewer fee from $3.94 per 100 cubic feet of water to $4.54, or 15 percent. It would be the first sewer fee hike since 2009.
   If Township Council introduces the ordinance at its March 19 meeting and gives final approval to it in April, a household that uses 14,200 cubic feet of water would pay $85 more per year — from $560 to $645, Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said.
   Sewer service is provided to Ewing and Lawrence townships by the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority.
   Each municipality is billed for sewer service, based on the number of customers. There are more sewer connections in Ewing Township than in Lawrence Township. The sewer bill is split 60/40, which means Ewing picks up 60 percent of the tab and Lawrence pays 40 percent of the bill.
   The potential 15-percent increase in the sewer fee matches the 15-percent increase in the sewer bill that ELSA charges Lawrence. The ELSA sewer bill for 2011 was $4.5 million, but the sewer bill for 2012 is expected to be $5.2 million, Mr. Krawczun told Township Council Tuesday night.
   Last month, ELSA Executive Director Robert Filler told Township Council that the authority’s 2012 budget is expected to increase by .03 percent, but the sewer fee increase is needed because of a decline in “other income,” such as connection fees for new properties, interest on investments, application fees and permits, to support the $13.8 million budget.
   In 2009, for example, “other income” that was plugged into the budget as a revenue source amounted to $1 million. It was $395,000 in 2010, and $150,000 last year. It is expected to be about $286,000 this year, Mr. Filler told Township Council at its Feb. 21 meeting.
   The sewerage authority also uses “unrestricted assets,” or budget surplus funds, as a revenue source, but the amount of money on hand that has been utilized also is on the decline, he said. It has ranged from $2.5 million in 2008 and $2.6 million in 2009 to $2.8 million last year. For 2012, it is estimated at $1 million.
   ”There is no other place for us to get income, but to come to our two townships,” Mr. Filler said. “We are going to try to do our best not to do it again in 2013. The cost of doing business on average in the industry increases by 7 percent.”
   The costs of chemicals, labor and insurance have increased, but the sewerage authority has “fine-tuned” the budget, Mr. Filler said. Employees are hired only when necessary, he said, adding that “I wish I could come up with some magic bullet so that we don’t have to go to the townships (for rate increases).”