To the Editor:
West Wildwood government officials bill everyone the same rate for sewer use, no matter if the sewer customer uses, abuses, or fails to use the West Wildwood municipal sewer system. The following questions the billing system used by the officials of the borough, and how they spend the sewer user tax revenues.
Important Note:
All municipalities in Cape May County that use the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority for sewer treatment are billed the same. No municipality is billed differently than the other!
Tiny West Wildwood has a year-round population of some 400 residents. That increases to some 6,000 people during the 10-week summer season. Due to how West Wildwood officials bill sewer customers, all customers are impacted negatively. In my opinion, the sewer billing method used in West Wildwood is indiscriminate, unacceptable, and questionable.
All single-family, residential year-round and seasonal (10 week) sewer customers and all multiple family home unit, year-round and/or seasonal (duplex, triplex and larger), customers are billed using the same indiscriminate billing system.
- All single-family residential units, year-round, seasonal and/or vacant (no matter the number of people in the home – one, seven, 10 or more) are billed $217.50 per quarter. The rate of $217.50 x 4 (quarters) totals a cost of $870 per year.
- Multiple family units, year-round, seasonal, or vacant are billed as follows: Example:A triplex (3 units) is simply charged $217.50 x 3 = $652.50 per triple per quarter. Then charged $652.50 x 4 (quarters) = $2,610 per triplex per year.
Neighboring Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and North Wildwood bill sewer customers using the water meter readings at the property to determine the sewer use. That billing method is a common-sense way to bill for sewer use. In essence, water in/water out into the sewer system. The neighboring Wildwoods also charge a nominal quarterly service fee to offset maintenance costs. All sewer customers pay their fair sewer share when being billed by means of using the water meter reading system.
Know:
When budgeting, the State of New Jersey requires municipalities to maintain separate budgets. Municipalities must establish a municipal budget dedicated to operation costs, such as employee salaries, contractual needs and so on. Separate from the municipal budget and dedicated to municipal ‘utility operations’ (sewer utility in the Borough of West Wildwood) is a dedicated sewer utility budget. That budget is a separate ‘dedicated budget’ used specifically for sewer related costs only, not to be used to pay for municipal operation costs.
Note:
The municipal budget and the dedicated sewer utility budget are not permitted to overlap with one another and are not permitted to offset the other. The two budgets are to be maintained independently and operate separately. The two budgets are not to be comingled.
Borough officials wittingly use a portion of the dedicated sewer revenues to intentionally supplement the municipal budget (comingle) by purposefully paying a portion of non-sewer related employee salaries. According to 2023 West Wildwood payroll records, the dedicated sewer utility budget revenues (money) used to supplement non-sewer related employees totaled $128,522.80! That dollar amount does not include sewer utility money possibly being used for other questionable spending.
It is my opinion that the borough municipal officials have and continue to comingle dedicated sewer utility budget revenues with the municipal budget. If validated, the use of sewer utility revenues to pay sizable portions of salaries of non-sewer related borough employees, offsetting the municipal operating budget, is questionable. In essence, if indeed validated, then borough officials may have possibly violated NJ CAP laws that limit municipal budget spending. And, if so, that questionable spending of sewer utility monies to supplement the municipal budget needs immediate review.
All the information outlined above is supported and found in borough documents, budgets, bills, and payroll records. Those records are available to the public via Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests from the borough.
HERBERT FREDERICK
West Wildwood
