The TC delayed the charge because it has been considering a $25 surcharge, which would go to help pay for the defense of the Union and Essex Joint Meeting in a lawsuit unrelated to Maplewood.
It now appears the TC will vote down the surcharge tonight.
Township Administrator Joe Manning explained the situation in this email:
First of all at the June 5th meeting an ordinance was introduced to increase the sewer user fee by $25 to $200. The mayor explained that this was necessary because the Union and Essex Joint Meeting of which Maplewood was a member was involved in litigation and determined it would cost approximately $4MM to defend itself. Maplewood was assessed a fee or their share of that defense fund. However, it was to be determined by the Joint Meeting if it could cover the entire cost at least for 2012. How that all worked out we will have to wait until tomorrow evening’s meeting to find out. If they do have the funds then I suspect that the ordinance will be voted down. All of this has a history and goes back almost one year. It was written about in the Star Ledger and the New-Record. In addition it was discussed at the June 5th meeting when the Mayor explained the reason for the fee increase.
Mayor De Luca also indicated the surcharge will likely not be approved since the money is no longer needed by the Joint Meeting. So we remain stuck with the $175 sewer fee, on top of our already high property taxes.
The related ordinance that will be considered is below:
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