Increase To Water Rates Approved In Mendham Township

MENDHAM, NJ — Water rates for customers of both Mendham West Water Pollution Control System and Mendham East Water Pollution Control System are officially going up.

The ordinance, which called for an amendment to the already established sanitary sewer service fees in order to raise them for the coming year, was unanimously approved at the December committee meeting.

The rate change has been a long time coming, according to borough officials, and Mayor Nick Monaghan claims that the borough was actually late in making this amendment.

The service rate increase will affect the Mendham West Water Pollution Control System facilities. Those facilities include a wastewater treatment facility and 86 single-family units within the Brookrace subdivision, 12 condominium units and three cottages.

For customers under the Mendham West Water Pollution Control System, the established service charge for a single-family property is $1,507, while the rate for a condo unit is currently $622, according to the current code.

The amended code increases those numbers to $1,621 for a single-family property and $669 for a condo unit, according to the approved ordinance.

"We have been talking with the residents of the neighborhood, a letter was sent out and we also had a Zoom call as well. I think we did our best effort to try to make sure that there was an understanding of why the rate was being increased and we will continue those meetings going forward in 2023," Committeewoman Amalia Duarte said.

The Mendham East Water Pollution Control System facilities include a wastewater treatment plant, a pumping station, 78 single-family units within the Drakewick at Mendham subdivision, 14 units in The Corners at Mendham and 12 units within Mendham Knolls.

Here is the established service charge for single-family dwelling units and condominium dwelling units:

• 1-Bedroom Dwelling
  • Current Fee: $1,033
  • Amended Fee: $1,085
• 2-Bedroom Dwelling
  • Current Fee: $2,067
  • Amended Fee: $2,170
• 3-Bedroom Dwelling
  • Current Fee: $3,100
  • Amended Fee: $3,255
• 4-Bedroom Dwelling
  • Current Fee: $4,134
  • Amended Fee: $4,341
• 5-Bedroom Dwelling
  • Current Fee: $5,166
  • Amended Fee: $5,524

Local resident Diana Orban Brown addressed the board, wanting to know why there was such a large price discrepancy between the increases for Mendham West Water Pollution Control System and Mendham East Water Pollution Control System.

"There is a huge difference between the fees for west and the fees for east. Single-family homes in Brookrace are four-to-five bedrooms and four bedrooms in East are $4,341 and five bedrooms are $5,524. That probably bears some sort of comment," Brown said.

In response, Monaghan said that the price difference relates to the amount of money that needed to be invested into the sewer repairs. "Because of the additional investment in sewer east, those fees are higher."

Water rate increases have been occurring all over Morris County, including in neighboring communities. Earlier this year, Mendham Borough announced that New Jersey American Water was planning to increase rates for all borough residents within the upcoming year.

According to the approved rate increase in Mendham Borough, the monthly bill for an average water customer using 5,520 gallons will increase by approximately $2.93, and the monthly bill for an average wastewater customer will increase by approximately $3.74.

Madison Borough also discussed increasing their water fees for all residents during a council meeting this winter.