Middle to Raise Sewer Rates

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Committee introduced an ordinance Nov. 18, which would raise residential sewer rates by almost 15%, moving the annual charge from $560 to $640. Commercial rates, raised last year, will remain the same.
Township officials pointed to the fact that rates for residential customers have not been raised since 2012. Mayor Timothy Donohue called the increase a “necessary step,” as the municipality prepares to initiate a program to modernize its aging sewer system, some of which dates back to the 1930s.
One factor driving the rate increase is the skyrocketing costs associated with wastewater flow to the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority (CMCMUA). Chief Financial Officer Susan Quinones said that fees paid to the CMCMUA have risen 83% since 2013, going from $1.62 million to $2.97 million per year.
The large and sustained increases in CMCMUA costs have, in large part, been caused by increases in the wastewater flow from the municipality. While some growth in the sewer user population would account for incremental growth in wastewater flow, the culprit for most of it is most likely groundwater infiltration and stormwater inflow penetrating the aging sewer system.
Another factor impacting the municipality’s CMCMUA expense is a lowering of wastewater flow from some of the other municipal customers of the CMCMUA, due, in part, to shrinking populations and more recent modernization of infrastructure. As Donohue explained, a lower flow from the other municipal customers of the CMCMUA means a larger slice of the expense pie for Middle to absorb.
Quinones said that the sewer utility budget has grown from $4.04 million in 2012 to $5.42 million in 2019. In that period, the CMCMUA expense moved from 40% of the total budget to 55%, with the department budget minus the CMCMUA fees showing a total increase of slightly over 1%.
“We have done all that we can to manage the sewer utility well,” Donohue said.
Recently, the township awarded a contract to Mott MacDonald to evaluate the sewer system and the municipality’s 22 pump stations. The pump stations represent another area of infrastructure in need of modernization, with a number of them 25 to 30 years old.
Donohue outlined two goals for the sewer system. One is dealing with the leakage and reducing the unnecessary flow to the CMCMUA. The other is modernization of the infrastructure, which would eventually result in more efficient and effective use of sewer utility funds.
Donohue said that modernization would begin in Court House, home to the oldest sections of the sewer system. The hope is that addressing the oldest area first would have the biggest return in terms of reducing inappropriate flows to the CMCMUA.
Dealing with the pump stations would require a multi-year project, with the hope that four or five stations per year can be upgraded, until all 22 have been addressed.
“No one wants to raise fees,” Donohue said, “but this is an issue we must address.” He noted that the municipality had taken the steps it could before turning to a rate increase.
“We have taken several proactive steps in the past year to analyze our current system, and to budget capital funds for the inspection and improvement of our pump stations,” Donohue added.
The sewer rate ordinance will come up for a second reading, public hearing and final vote at the Dec. 16 meeting.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.