Middle set to increase sewer rates – Press of Atlantic City

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP Township ratepayers will see a cost increase under an ordinance introduced Monday, Nov. 18, the first since 2012.

According to Mayor Tim Donohue, residential users will pay about $80 more each year, a move he described as necessary to cover increasing costs for processing at the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority.

If you extrapolate that by the month, its not a lot of money but people are on fixed incomes. We understand it will hurt some people but its a necessary step, he said at the meeting.

Township officials have discussed the increasing cost of sewer treatment at the county level, and looked for steps to address it, including improvements to its own sewer system. According to Donohue, the township sewer departments budget has remained level for years, while the county-level costs has skyrocketed.

Part of the reason is because Middle Townships population has increased while other towns have dropped, he said. Rainwater infiltration is also an issue. Cracks in the sewer pipes allow rain and groundwater to enter the system, which means the township ends up paying to treat clean water at the county system.

The last increase to residential sewer rates was in 2012. Since that time our costs from the county MUA have gone up substantially, Donohue said.

Through much of this year, Middle officials have focused on the issue, including meeting with MUA staff. In September, the committee approved a $211,475 contract with the engineering firm Mott MacDonald to evaluate the pumping stations.

Some of the 22 existing stations in the township are more than 30 years old and will need repairs or even replacement. Bringing the older stations up to standard may cost about $200,000 each, and about $50,000 more for the newer stations. He would expect the work would add another 20 years to the useful life of the pump stations, engineers estimate.

The township also plans to use cameras to explore the oldest section of the sewer system in Cape May Court House, which was built in 1937 and includes lengths of terra cotta pipes.

I want to make sure people understand were not just jacking up the sewer rate. Weve taken several pro-active steps of over the last year to analyze our current system, to budget capital funds to inspect and improve all our pumping stations, Donohue said at the meeting.

He said the township department has kept the system together for years with scotch tape and chicken wire.

Its time to address it, and part of that has to be an increase in the rate, Donohue said.

Susan Quinones, Middle Townships chief financial officer, addressed Township Committee at a workshop meeting earlier in the day.

Since the last rate increase, she said, during the sparsely attended work session, the annual cost for sewer treatment has grown from $1.62 million to a projected cost of $2.97 million for 2020, she said.

She said the department used surpluses and sought to control costs to avoid a rate increase for years. Quinones and Donohue said the increase is driven by the increased costs from the county MUA.

Those costs have increased from 40 percent of the township sewer budget to 60 percent of the cost this year.

Not everyone in Middle Township is a sewer customer. Some sections of the township continue to rely on well water and septic systems, and some use well water and also have a sewer connection. The township sewer department charges a flat rate, rather than using meters to determine a cost for each customer.

The current cost is $560 a year, set to increase to $640.

A public hearing and final vote on the ordinance are planned for 6 p.m. Dec. 16 at Township Hall, 33 Mechanic St. in Cape May Court House.

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Middle set to increase sewer rates - Press of Atlantic City