Mayor Would Use Sewer Surplus if Deemed Necesary

Sewer costs and surplus were topics of discussion at Tuesday night's brief Town Council meeting.

At the meeting, which ran under 30 minutes, resident Roy Messmer brought up an increase in the cost of the sewer bill, which he said has a lot to do with electrical costs.

Mayor James R. Barberio wanted the current surplus to go on the record, saying it is currently nearly $5.5 million.

“As you know, these are extraordinary times and sometimes they take extraordinary measures,” Barberio said. “I don’t want to, but if I have to take some of the sewer utility for our general budget to lower the tax levy, I would do that. I know sometimes the opinion is that we use that money from the sewer utility, but we are in an extreme situation. With that being said, I’d rather not use the surplus if I don’t have to.”

Barberio then went on to discuss how the completion of state-of-the-art sewer treatment plant will lower the town’s consumption of energy. To cite reasons for not using the sewer surplus to lower the tax levy, he read a memo from the superintendent of sewer utilities, Phil Bober.

Summarizing the message of the memo, Barberio said, “If we lose the ability to dewater, our costs will go from $1.3 million to $5.4 million per year. And the only source that would handle that would be surplus. You have to remember that we have plant construction going on and there will be some costs that are not recognized right now.”

Among the resolutions approved on Tuesday was a shared services agreement between Parsippany and Hanover Townships, in which Parsippany will take responsibility for animal control services in Hanover, beginning on March 1 and ending on Feb. 29, 2012, unless renewed by both parties. The control services will automatically be renewed for a second one-year term at the same cost to Hanover, unless one or both parties terminate the agreement, up to 60 days before the end of the first year.

This one-year contract will alleviate Hanover’s need for a public shelter for stray domestic pets, and will reduce the expenditure of tax dollars by having Parsippany perform animal control services for both towns, at a fee of no more than $30,000 for the year.

Before the meeting adjourned, the council announced that it will address the banning of indoor smoking at next week’s meeting.