MIDDLE TOWNSHIP – The Sewer Utility has a proposed 2025 budget of $6.4 million, of which 80% depends on revenue from fees paid by users of the sewer system. Slightly more than half of the total budget expense goes straight to the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority.

Middle has an aging sewer system that has been the focus of capital spending over the last several years as the township worked to reduce stormwater infusion into the system and out to the MUA. The fees the township pays are directly related to the flow from the sewer system.

The township has had success in normalizing some of that flow and getting a better handle on the MUA fees.

But in the proposed 2025 budget that was introduced April 8, the MUA fees are again rising faster than expected. The budget for the Sewer Utility contains an almost 16% hike in the fees the township has budgeted to pay to the MUA.

When the budget was presented, Mayor Chris Leusner said the rise in fees was unexpected. He indicated that the township is taking steps to determine what may be causing the increase.

The MUA portion of budget expense moved from $2.8 million in 2024 to $3.25 million in 2025. Middle is meeting the budget challenge in part with the use of additional surplus funds.

In 2024 the Township Committee set Sewer Utility fees for 2025 through 2027. The new rates 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 increase in the rates will also aid in meeting the principal and interest payments on infrastructure capital expenditures for the aging sewer system.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.