Water water everywhere, but will the borough sell?
That question, albeit more formal, will be put into hands of Haddonfield voters on Nov. 4 when they vote on whether to sell control of the borough’s water and sewer systems to New Jersey American Water.
Oct. 13 marked the last in a series of public information meetings where Commissioner John Moscatelli answered questions from the public and explained to residents the dire condition of the borough’s water and sewer systems.
Outside of emergency repairs, Moscatelli said the township has invested almost nothing in its water and sewer systems for decades.
“Public water and sewer started 130 years ago, and we still have infrastructure in the ground that is vintage to that era,” Moscatelli said. “We recently redid the utilities on Pamona and we pulled wooden pipe out of the ground there. We’ve come across 125-year-old pipes on Maple. A lot of this stuff has been there for a long time.”
To repair the systems to a functioning level, Moscatelli said the borough would have to spend about $50 million over the next 30 years, with $27 million spent in the next decade, and $18 million spent in the decade after that.
According to Moscatelli, if the borough chooses not to sell, then those large increases in spending, spread across the borough’s nearly 4,700 ratepayers, would lead to sharp rate increases.
“We’re probably looking at anywhere from 6 percent to 8 percent across the board for the next year, and it’s probably going to be the same for the following year,” Moscatelli said. “And then some more debt service is going to come due, and it’s probably going to be a bit higher than that, hopefully in the low double digits.”
Moscatelli said he believed selling control of the systems to NJAW, with its longtime experience and access to economies of scale, was the most reliable and cost effective way for the borough to improve its water and sewer systems.
NJAW has offered the borough $28.5 million for control of the water and sewer systems, with a guaranteed $6.5 million in improvements in the first year, and $9.5 million in improvements in the subsequent four years.
NJAW has also offered a three-year rate freeze, and has agreed to continue the borough’s senior discount program for 10 years
for seniors already in the program.
Resident John Costello, who attended the Oct. 13 meeting, said he had concerns about giving control of the system to an entity such as NJAW where he and other residents can’t simply talk or walk to the borough hall to get an issue fixed.
Costello also said he still wanted solid information on what NJAW is going to do to improve the system and at what charge to ratepayers in the future.
“I think that even if I was inclined to vote yes, I would still vote no, only because we need more time to sort this out, and I and others, we have seen this presentation several times, we have seen a lot of numbers, but none of us have actually heard ‘OK, this is my usage, what will I pay exactly?’ None of us have heard that,” Costello said.
Resident Jay Hotaling said his family has had multiple problems with the borough’s existing water and sewer system, including instances of the system backing up and pumping raw sewage into his basement.
“It depends on which side you ultimately think is going to better care for the line, but yeah, if American Water is going to put more service and pipes in and replace more, then I’m definitely in support of the sale,” Hotaling said. “It can help the town in a lot of other ways. At the current time, I would vote for the sale based on our experience with the existing system.”
As he concluded his presentation to the public at the Oct. 13 meeting, Moscatelli again stated how important he believed the issue was, and encouraged all voters in the borough, regardless of whether they agreed with his position to sell to New Jersey American Water, to go out and vote on Nov. 4.
“I would like to see a good turnout, and at this point I’m really rather nervous…that we’re going to have a low turnout,” Moscatelli said. “I would really hate for this to pass or fail with a 10-vote margin out of a hundred votes cast.”
