Lower MUA Introduces 2012 Budget with Shortfall

VILLAS — Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) introduced its 2012 budget which contains no rate increases for water/sewer customers but contains an anticipated $322,000 shortfall.
MUA’s proposed 2012 water operating budget totals $3.6 million, its sewer budget totals $5.4 million.
At an Oct. 5 meeting, MUA’s Board of Commissioners voted to approve the budget’s introduction.
While more water customers are anticipated in 2012, in particular in Town Bank where water mains have been installed, MUA Executive Director Matthew Ecker said the authority is waiting for state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approval and may not have the ability to connect new customers in that area right away.
That revenue cannot be anticipated in MUA’s 2012 budget, he said.
MUA Board of Commissioner Chairman Nels Johnson said in a two year time frame with 3,000 anticipated new water customers, the shortfall should disappear.
In 2009, then executive director Mike DeMarcantonio said MUA had been operating with a $600,000 shortfall for five years.
Engineer Marc DeBlasio said the Town Bank water project phase one was essentially complete with the exception of road restoration. He said the contractor was installing extra water main at the site of a new well, Well 8.
The contractor, Pioneer Pipe, is returning next week to install water mains off the main trunk line and put water meters in place for future connections at homes, said DeBlasio.
Design for phase two of the Town Bank project is completed and is awaiting authorization from the state Department of Environmental Protection for a water main permit. DeBlasio predicted MUA would have the permit in a few weeks.
Once MUA has the permit, it can go out to bid for the project.
Commissioner Thomas Brown suggested MUA update Town Bank residents on the schedule of the project.
“A lot of people got real excited when the main starting going in,” he said.
Ecker said DEP had 45 days to deny or issue a permit but that time frame is not always followed. He said he did not want to present a work schedule when the MUA was waiting for a state permit.
Ecker said MUA has been waiting 11 months for a wetlands permit for the authority’s solar farm, normally a 90-day process. He said MUA reengineered the project, keeping it out of wetlands buffers.
Once the permit is in hand for Town Bank phase two, Ecker said homeowners would be alerted with a reverse 9-1-1 phone system call and a mailing. MUA’s field inspector will also speak with residents, he said.
DeBlasio said MUA was waiting for a permit for Well 8 from DEP’s Bureau of Water Allocation. Ecker said 30-inch water main from Breakwater Road to Well 8 would be installed as part of the Town Bank project.
Ecker said the solar farm was nearly complete, all the fields were generating power with the exception of one section where a transformer will be installed.
Ecker told the Herald last month it is estimated the solar field will save MUA as much as $15,000 per month. He said the solar panel electricity savings would not be figured into the utility’s 2012 budget since there is no track record.
Ecker said savings would be realized which should reduce electricity costs adding money back into MUA’s general fund.
In April, Lower Township Deputy Mayor Kevin Lare speculated MUA had as much as a $4 million cash surplus.
At that time, Ecker replied that actual cash on hand after all bond notes were satisfied was $915,741.
The proposed 2012 water budget projects operating revenue from 6,866 units, up from 6,447 this year.