The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Franklin Township Sewerage Authority customers will pay 2.9 percent more in their annual fees, and sewer connection fees will rise nearly $300 under the $17.5 million Fiscal Year 2025-26 Authority budget introduced at its October 7 meeting.
Residential, commercial and industrial sewer customers will pay $410 a year, effective November 1. The reduced yearly fee for qualified low-income customers will be $349.23.
The Authority’s Fiscal Year runs from June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. The budget was introduced late, according to the introduction resolution, because the Authority could not get its budget appropriation estimates completed in time.
“It’s a good conservative budget,” Authority Executive Director Joe Danielsen said. “One could argue we could have been a little bit more aggressive on renewal and replacement and rehabilitation, but taking into account the economic times right now and the status of the sewage authority, I think we have a little breathing room.”
“We developed this budget in good faith to maintain what we have in proper working order while still moving forward in our rehabilitation program,” he said.
Danielsen said the connection fee and user rate are calculated using the cost of providing services to a typical single-family home against the current rates.
The budget includes “no significant changes other than a new position in bookkeeping, and appropriations sees normal increases in every category with the exception of healthcare,” he said. “We are experiencing the same healthcare experiences that everyone in New Jersey is experiencing. That’s a 20- to 30-percent increase. Our salaries increase anywhere from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 percent.”
Water treatment for the year, Danielsen said, will cost about $8.9 million. About 58 percent of that, he said, will go to the Middlesex County Utilities Authority, whose rates are increasing. Increased water treatment costs are also attributable to the aging sewer infrastructure which is letting water into pipes and requires constant rehabilitation, Danielsen said.
“So all the increases in the cost of providing services may be admin or otherwise are expected increases, but the treatment is the one that we could actually work on to minimize those expenses going through the years forward,” he said.
The Authority also sends water for treatment to New Brunswick and South Bound Brook, he said.,
The budget also includes $11.8 million in capital improvements, including $8.4 million for the Brookline rehabilitation project, and $2 million for the Commerce Drive pump station.
Another $650,000 has been allocated for the Belmont Drive trunk rehabilitation, and the Shirley Avenue pump station, with $350,000 of that allocated to buy land for the Weston Canal pumping station rebuild and relocation.
The budget also includes funds to purchase a 2025 Dodge Ram 2500 and a 2025 Dodge Ram Pro master van to replace vehicles that are 17- to 20-years-old.
The budget is scheduled to be memorialized at the Authority’s November meeting.
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