Authority chair sounds alarm about rate hikes Legislation, new pipeline could have an impact on MTMUA customers BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer MARLBORO - A bill that is waiting for action in the state Legislature and a proposed project planned by the MiddlesexWater Company could leave customers of the Marlboro Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MTMUA) seeing an increase in their water bills. In a letter to the editor that was published in the April 30 News Transcript, MTMUA Chairman Michael Messinger discussed both issues and explained how their approval could impact customers of theMTMUAwith a possible 46 percent increase in their water bill. TheMTMUAservices about 70 percent ofMarlboro, according to Executive Director Peter Wersinger. The remainder of Marlboro and portions of northern Manalapan are serviced by the Gordons Corner Water Company, according to its Internet Web site. State Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex and Somerset) has brought forth Senate bill 1454, otherwise known as the Water Supply Open Space and Farmland Trust Fund Act. The legislation, introduced on March 6, would, if eventually signed into law, impose water consumption and diversion user fees to fund open space and farmland preservation projects in order to establish aWater Supply Open Space and Farmland Trust Fund Account in the Department of Treasury. According to the introduced version of the bill, a water consumption user fee would be imposed on the owner or operator of every public community water system equal to 40 cents per thousand gallons of water delivered to a consumer. A water diversion user fee would also be imposed on every person required by law to obtain a diversion permit or a water use registration equal to 40 cents per thousand gallons of water diverted for a consumptive use. The bill reads that the amount due from any person subject to one of these fees would not exceed $50,000 per year, and the money would be "constitutionally dedicated for open space and farmland preservation purposes." The bill lists how available money within the fund must be used annually. To the Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund, 65 percent of the estimated annual balance would be set aside. This money would be used by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to pay the cost of acquisition and development of lands by the state, municipalities and qualifying tax-exempt nonprofit organizations for recreation and conservation purposes. The remaining 35 percent of the fund would be annually appropriated to the Garden State Farmland Preservation Trust Fund to be used by the State Agriculture Development Committee for farmland preservation. The annual revenue estimated from this increase is approximately $150 million, based on the surcharge equal to 40 cents per thousand gallons of water, according to the bill. The average residential water usage in New Jersey is 80,000 gallons of water annually, the bill states, with the increase projected to cost the average household $32 per year in extra fees. Messinger said if the legislation is passed, customers of the MTMUA could expect an approximate 11 percent rate increase in their bill. At present the bill is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Environment Committee, of which Smith is the chair. The other 30 to 35 percent potential rate increase would be the by-product of a new water main proposed by the Middlesex Water Company (MWC), Messinger said. The MTMUA purchases almost 70 percent of its water from the MWC while the remaining 30 percent comes from wells. The state limits the amount of water that can be drawn from the wells, Messinger explained. Messinger said the rationale behind the $26.2 million proposal by the MWC is that someday the company hopes to use the water main to provide water to other parts of New Jersey that may be experiencing a water shortage. "Why should Marlboro residents pay today because one day, years from now, the water may be needed elsewhere in Monmouth County?" Messinger asked. When contacted for information regarding the water main plan, Bernadette Sohler, vice president of corporate affairs for theMWC, provided the following statement: "MiddlesexWater Company has initiated a regulatory proceeding with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities requesting the board to determine the need and prudency of a proposed pipeline project which the company feels is necessary for reliability, redundancy and security. We have filed the petition and necessary documents with the board. We are working through the regulatory process and, at this early stage, have no further comment." The public information office at the Office of Administrative Law confirmed that the prudency review is scheduled to be heard in Trenton by Judge Douglas Hurd beginning Aug. 26. Messinger believes that if theMTMUA must raise its rates the move will impact customers of the Gordons Corner Water Company as well, since the Gordons CornerWater Company purchases water from the MTMUA. A message left at the Gordons Corner Water Company was not returned by press time. "We (the MTMUA) haven't had a rate increase since 2004. These increases will be brought on by the state, not us," Messinger said.