BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — Representatives of the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority defended this year’s 30 percent rate hike during a special meeting in which members of the Marlboro and Manalapan governing bodies questioned the authority’s management philosophy.
The WMUA operates a waste water sewage treatment plant at its Manalapan headquarters which provides service to 25,000 customers in Manalapan, Marlboro, Englishtown and part of northern Freehold Township. The WMUA commissioners are Eric Abraham, Steve Toubin, Ralph Zulferino and Jeffrey Hymowitz. Frank Abate is the authority’s executive director.
The WMUA rate increase, which was implemented earlier this year, raised rates $8 a month from $27 to $35 for the average customer, according to information provided by the authority. Since the WMUA bills its customers on a quarterly basis, a regular customer’s quarterly bill increased from $81 to $105 and a senior citizen’s bill increased from $61 to $85.
During the Oct. 11 special meeting in Marlboro Town Hall, Ulrich Steinberg, Marlboro’s chief financial officer, asked the majority of the financial and technical questions on behalf of the governing bodies.
Although Steinberg said he believed it would have been more prudent for the commissioners to increase rates incrementally over a period of time instead of hitting rate payers with a substantial increase in one year, he concluded that the WMUA operates under a different management philosophy than the Marlboro and Manalapan governing bodies.
Steinberg said that nothing the WMUA commissioners did was illegal.
The commissioners attributed the WMUA’s financial situation to a drop in connection fees, which is one of the authority’s primary sources of revenue. Toubin said growth in Marlboro and Manalapan in the last four to five years has not been as great as it was in 2000 and that has dropped connection fees.
Abraham said the rate increase was “painful for our rate payers and it was painful for us, but we made the decision not to use connection fees to pay for operational costs.”
Toubin said the commissioners are making an effort to save the connection fees that are paid to the authority for future upgrades and construction.
In response to a question, the commissioners said that in hindsight it may have been more prudent to have incremental rate increases instead of a significant hike such as the one that occurred this year.
The commissioners also attributed the rate hike to what they said was a significant increase in operating expenses including employee benefits, chemicals, fuel and plant repairs.
The WMUA commissioners acknowledged that over the past few years the authority spent approximately $9 million in surplus funds for capital improvements, which included the construction of the authority’s new building off Pension Road in Manalapan.
In regard to constructing the new plant, Abate said “there was no choice in the matter.” He said the WMUA’s previous facility was more than 40 years old and required urgent attention.
In comments to the News Transcript, Manalapan Committeeman Joseph Locricchio said the meeting was a “good start, but there’s a lot more ground to cover.”
Locricchio said he believes it is going to take a couple of hearings to get through all of the unanswered questions the elected officials and residents have for the WMUA commissioners. There are years of expenditures and voting records to go through, he added.
One concern Locricchio raised was that the commissioners never got estimates for possible renovations to the old facility.
Abraham said it was determined that renovations were not feasible, therefore no estimates were sought.
One issue that Locricchio and Marlboro council President Joseph Pernice addressed is that the WMUA employed the same person for the position of financial adviser and auditor. Locricchio added that the WMUA’s auditor was the same as Marlboro’s and Manalapan’s auditor. Pernice and Locricchio said they believe this was a conflict of interest and a severe error in judgment.
Another concern the two officials share is that there is no reason to appoint WMUA liaisons because the commissioners are appointed by the Marlboro council and the Manalapan committee, therefore they should be responsible for keeping the governing bodies informed on a regular basis.
Pernice said the communication channels between the governing bodies and the WMUA needs to be improved.
When asked what responsibilities and attributes a WMUA commissioner should have, Locricchio said a commissioner should “represent the township, represent the people and protect the people.”
He also suggested that the commissioners be required to sign a document stating that they will not be politically motivated. He said commissioners should have a clear understanding of what the WMUA does and should have a stronger background relating to their position.
Pernice added, “We want honesty, integrity and all the good attributes that make everything work well.”