Maplewood sewer fees will to $184, an $9 increase per household, this year. The increase was approved by the Township Committee at its April 21 meeting.
At the April 7 meeting, Mayor Vic DeLuca and Township Administrator Joseph Manning explained that the increase was due to an assessment from the Joint Meeting of Essex and Union Counties, which owns and operates the wastewater facility in Elizabeth that serves a number of local towns including Maplewood and South Orange.
The increase is somewhat less that the $11 originally projected at the April 7 TC meeting. Mayor Vic DeLuca explained via email that he met with Township Administrator Joseph Manning and Financial Officer Juan Uribe in the intervening time to review the assessment. “We determined that a $9 increase times the 9,000+ sewer accounts brought in sufficient revenues to cover the $80,000 Joint Meeting increase,” wrote DeLuca.
Previously Maplewood’s sewer charge was $175 annually per household, which had held steady for several years (with the exception of two years ago when it increased to $194 because of legal fees the township had to pay related to the Passaic River lawsuit).
DeLuca said it was unlikely that this would be a one-time increase because the township’s overall assessment from the joint meeting is going up. “They’re charging us more than we’re [currently] bringing in,” he said on April 7. “Unfortunately this is not going to go away in the future.”
