Middle Township is raising sewer rates by 12.5% for 2025, with smaller rate increases coming in each of the following two years.
Mayor Chris Leusner said the increases, approved by the Township Committee as an ordinance change on Sept. 16, were necessary due to rising costs for salaries, insurance and fees paid to the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority.
The township pays the MUA based on the amount of waste flow to its treatment facilities. The fees are proportional in that each participating municipality pays a greater or lesser amount based on that town’s proportional share of the total flow.
As Leusner explained it, if Middle made no updates to its sewer systems and other communities made their systems more efficient, Middle’s share of the total cost at the MUA would rise. The MUA charges represent close to 50% of the total $5.9 million budget of the township’s sewer utility. Any change in those MUA fees has a direct bearing on the calculation of necessary sewer rates.
The mayor added that the increase in the rates will also aid in meeting the principal and interest payments on infrastructure capital expenditures for the aging sewer system.
The new rates approved at the Sept. 16 meeting will raise the current residential fee from $640 to $720 per year in 2025, a 12.5% increase. In 2026 the rate will rise to $760, and in 2027 to $800. Each of the latter two increases will be in the 5% to 6% range.
The last change to the sewer rates occurred in 2019, when they jumped from $560 to the current $640, a 14% jump.
From 2025 through 2027, commercial and hotel properties will also see the same base rate increase per unit, along with a metered fee per gallon for sewage over 40,000 gallons.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
