Ordinance to be amended in early 2014 to reflect water usage
by David Kilby, Special Writer
ALLENTOWN — Commercial property owners and landlords in Allentown are starting to express their displeasure with the 100 percent increase in their annual sewer rate given the increase did not impact all borough property owners.
They also lament the increase at a time when businesses in town are struggling significantly.
The ordinance authorizing the increase, passed in May, states the annual sewer rate for each commercial unit, which has a single connection with the system, shall be $1,320 per year, twice as much as last year. This includes the annual usage of 30,000 cubic feet of water, based on the previous year’s annual usage, the ordinance reads.
Commercial units, including rental apartments, will be charged an additional $2,640 if they use over 30,000 cubic feet, $3,960 if they use over 60,000 cubic feet and $5,280 if they use over 90,000 cubic feet, the ordinance reads.
Wil Borkowski of South Main Street and landlord for an apartment building and three businesses in Allentown, expressed his concerns with the ordinance.
At the June 11 Allentown Borough Council meeting, Mr. Borkowski, who owns the historic Imlay House, asked the council to reconsider the increase, saying he believed the ordinance is “discriminatory and capricious.”
He added, “The cause is an aging sewer plant. We can’t pass these extraordinary increases to tenants. These tenants are residents as well.”
A project that would improve the aging sewer plant, headed by Eric Betz of the Hatch Mott MacDonald Engineering Firm, has been in the works for over six years, he added.
”We spent $133,000 last year to fix sewage plant,” he said. That didn’t stop the problem. If the plant is aging it’s everyone’s problem. I’m being told I’m to blame. I’m the commercial owner. Why am I the one to blame?”
He also said there could be a leak somewhere that the tenant and landlord don’t know about, but they’d still be charged through no fault of their own. Yet if a normal resident that is not a tenant or landlord in Allentown goes over the 30,000 cubic feet threshold, there is no penalization fee mentioned in the ordinance for that resident.
Mr. Berkowitz said the borough should charge everyone $125 more per year, instead of singling out commercial property owners and landlords. Last year the cost for sewage was $660 per unit for both residential and commercial units, he added.
He added he believes commercial owners are being charged because they represent the least resistance.
”The mayor decided to minimize the public outrage and discriminate business owners,” he said in an interview.
Subsequently at the June 25 meeting, Mayor Stuart Fierstein said the move was made to ensure residents with few occupants would not pay the same rate as a business, such as a restaurant where peak occupancy may exceed 30 or 40 people.
In addition, Mayor Fierstein said he anticipates the ordinance will be amended in the early part of 2014 so that sewer rates will be based on water usage. Currently, they are based on flow. The sewage ordinance, titled 07-2013, is viewable online at www.allentownnj.org under the “Ordinances” tab.