Water-Use Disparity Cost Taxpayers $100K Per Year

To The Editor:
This November will be exactly one year that the West Cape May Taxpayers Association presented data to their local government. The data presented highlighted a major borough problem, that being the residents on metered water have been paying for water they never used. Seven years of data obtained through public records, which now appears to be a travesty, has cost our taxpayers $100,000 per year.
In March of this year, the commission contracted a revenue recovery firm to investigate and analyze the aforementioned data while at the same time suppressing numerous requests to do a complete engineering study. One of the requests would have been on a pro bono basis and it came from a resident with credentials to show he is highly qualified. The commission decided no. I should really say the mayor decided after various vendor interviews, that the firm selected was the most qualified to do the investigation. I am not trying to be critical here, but it appears the mayor is going solo on many decisions because her colleagues seem unaware of certain happenings until they get to a commissioners’ meeting. The label of mayor is a title only, there is not just one mayor, there is a commission, a team that was elected by the citi-zens to work together. The tax dollars of those citizens pay the salaries of the commission.
After a six-month period and $1,800 later, on Sept. 8, the contracted firm gave its first report on the findings of their investigation. The professional presentation summed up what was already known to the taxpayers association. It could be conceived that the commission is not as serious as they profess when the cost that was currently expended for the report averages $75 a week over a six-month period when the taxpayers, specifically the metered water users, are out of pocket $8,000 to $10,000 a month and that figure continues to grow.
When the taxpayers researched and found the disparity in water used and water lost they presented it to the commission as a cry for help not as a personal attack on the board. Seeing that the commission has been aware of this disparity for at least two years, why wasn’t it listed as a reason for the 2009 Water & Sewer rate increase? Is that not a fiduciary responsibility? Now is the time to expedite and attack this problem, no more intermittent approaches. The citizens, their constituents of this beautiful community, deserve at least that much.
As this commission continues to move forward with a “Sustainable Growth Plan,” one would think that they would want their existing infrastructure intact and functioning accurately before they build upon it for their Master Plan.
KATHY GALLAGHER
West Cape May
(ED. NOTE: Gallagher is with the West Cape May Taxpayers Association.)
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