August 10, 2010
Re: Sewer Fee
Dear Audubon Resident:
This week the residential sewer invoices were distributed through the US postal service. This is not a new fee. It is a reinstatement of the fee that was discontinued by a previous administration when the CCMUA was established; however, the town still has to maintain the sewer collection and transportation system as required by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection.
This residential fee is actually $10 / month or $120 dollars per year which will be billed biannually. The bill you just received is prorated for 75% of the year or 3 quarters (fee was effective starting April 1, 2010), but sent out on 2 stubs. Please do not confuse this fee with the CCMUA fee. CCMUA is for the treatment of the waste while the municipality is responsible for the delivery systems to the CCMUA pumping stations. CCMUA does not provide sewer service or repairs and maintenance to Audubon.
The reality is this year’s budget had so many problems from the loss of state aid, several large statutory payments left out of last year’s budget, the pension payments were partially deferred for the last two years and we were forced to make up the difference this year and we have an enormous debt to repay. The shortfall in this budget was $1.6 million and we are carrying approximately $8,000,000 in debt.
In order to close this gap we also made some difficult cuts:
· Furloughing all Department of Public Works employees
· Outsourced the municipal clerks function
· Eliminated summer help for DPW
· Police Department demotions for reasons of economy
· Open positions in DPW were eliminated
· Laid off 3 police officers
· Auction of municipal assets including DPW and Police patrol vehicles
· Established purchasing caps in all departments to control expenses
· Desperately needed capital purchases and improvements were postponed
With the reinstatement of our sewer fee, which is consistent with our surrounding communities, it allows us to offset the costs for maintaining our over 100 year old sewer collection system as well as give us access to low / no interest money for emergency repairs if needed.
Thank you for taking the time to read this notice and for bearing with us as we face this challenging economy together. Please do not hesitate to contact us at the Borough (856) 547-0711 should you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Mayor John J. Ward
Commissioner William E. Gannon
Commissioner Kurt E. Bicking
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