By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The average household in Lawrence will pay an additional $85.20 per year in sewer fees for 2012 under an ordinance introduced by Township Council Tuesday night.
Township Councilmen David Maffei and Greg Puliti and Councilwoman Cathleen Lewis voted to introduce the ordinance. Mayor James Kownacki, who works for the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority, recused himself. Councilman Michael Powers was absent.
A public hearing and final action on the ordinance, which would raise the sewer rate by 15 percent from $3.94 per 100 cubic feet of water to $4.54 is set for the council’s April 3 meeting. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building.
A typical household that uses 14,200 cubic feet of water would pay $85.20 more per year from $559.48 to $644.68, Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said. If approved, this would be the first increase in the sewer fee since 2009.
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 than in Lawrence. Ewing picks up 60 percent of the bill and Lawrence pays 40 percent of the bill.
The increase in the sewer fee matches the increase in the sewer bill that the authority charges Lawrence. The authority sewer bill for 2011 was $4.5 million, but the sewer bill for 2012 is $5.2 million.
Sewer fees are billed separately from property taxes. Lawrence Township bills property owners, collects the money and sends it to the authority. The sewer bill is due in April and October.
During the public participation portion of Township Council’s meeting Tuesday, Review Avenue resident Carol Harle voiced her objection to the sewer fee increase, calling the 15-percent increase “outrageous.”
”I question whether anybody knows if they could have done anything to reduce it. I just think somebody needs to check it out to see if they need a 15-percent hike,” said Ms. Harle, who is a former mayor and Township Council member.
But last month, authority Executive Director Robert Filler walked Township Council through the sewerage authority’s budget. He said the authority’s 2012 budget is expected to increase by .03 percent, but there are reasons for an increase in the sewer fee.
Mr. Filler said 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” 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 told Township Council last month. “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 “I wish I could come up with some magic bullet so that we don’t have to go to the townships (for rate increases).”

