The Manalapan Water Sale: What You Need To Know

MANALAPAN, NJ — Manalapan Township hosted a Town Hall meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the potential sale of the town’s water company amidst resident concerns.

The sale will appear as a referendum question on the Nov. 5 ballot and ask voters if the town can sell its water system to Veolia Water New Jersey for $4M.

Here’s what you need to know about the sale and who it affects:

Manalapan’s water sources
Currently, there are three main water sources in Manalapan; well water which supports 5% of homes, Gordons Corner Water Company which supports 76% of homes and Manalapan Township Water (currently managed by Veolia) which supports 18% of homes.

If the referendum passes in November, Manalapan Township Water would be sold to Veolia, though there would be no change for Gordons Corner Water Company or well water customers.

Additionally, Township Administrator Tara Lovrich said Veolia told the town that rates would stay stable for at least two years if sold to Veolia, with 3% increases the following three years.

If the referendum doesn’t pass, Mayor Mary Ann Musich said there will be changes for the entire town due to improvements that need to be done to the water system.

“If we don’t sell the water utility and we end up keeping it, all the improvements that have to be done — probably $20M plus — we would have to bond for,” Musich said. “So everybody in the town will then have to pay for that.”

Homeowners who receive water from Gordons Corner Water Company, Manalapan Township Water and from well service all pay for improvements to the Manalapan Water System through taxes and the municipal budget.

Despite paying for these improvements, only those who receive water from the Manalapan Township water system benefit from them.

By selling to Veolia, Musich said improvements to the town’s water system would no longer be residents’ problem.

“If we don’t sell the water utility, that $20 million of infrastructure work will be our problem,” Musich said. “If that happens, then we will have to bond for it, and then everybody will have to pay for that.”

Resident concerns
Multiple residents who attended Wednesday night’s meeting took to the floor to express their concerns about the sale.

During the meeting, one resident questioned why the Township didn’t negotiate the price of Veolia’s $4M bid. Musich said that when it comes to municipal government, negotiation isn’t part of the process.

“The way municipal government works — when somebody bids, unless there’s something wrong with the bid, we have to take it,” Musich said. “We don’t have an option.”

Lovrich added that Veolia was also the only bidder for the town’s water system.

“We didn’t know who the successful bidder would have been,” Lovrich said. “We didn’t know who it would be, or if it was Veolia — it could have been anybody. So our professionals, our engineers, our attorneys, our financial advisors had to do a study of the whole system.”

Another resident who attended Wednesday night’s meeting questioned why improvements to the water system are only being done now and haven’t been done over time.

According to Musich, the system has been maintained over the years but now requires work due to its age.

“They [Veolia] were maintaining it,” Musich said. “It’s just that the system is now aging, so now it requires a lot more work.”

Throughout the meeting, Township officials emphasized that this is the first of many meetings that will delve into the details of the sale.

Ultimately, it will be up to residents to vote their approval or disapproval of the referendum in November.

“This is only the first town hall,” Lovrich said. “There will be so much information coming out, and you’ll learn so much more. I think the issue right now is the lack of information because we have to go through the process, we have to do what our attorneys tell us, and so those are the baby steps.”

To see the bid for Manalapan’s water system, you can visit the Manalapan Township website.