Monthly Archives: November 2011

City Council

5% water rate hike coming in 2012

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Water rates are likely to increase by 5 percent starting Jan. 1, 2012 to help close a nearly $1.2-million deficit in the city’s water utility. The base rate would rise from $29.64 to $31.12 per thousand cubic feet. A typical residential meter (5/8 inches) would see an increase from $32.60 to $34.23 in the base rate.

The City Council introduced an ordinance (O-30-11) at its Oct. 11 meeting which is scheduled for a public hearing and final adoption on Nov. 14. Also on tap for the Nov. 14 City Council meeting is a public hearing and final adoption of at the Oct. 11 meeting, the governing body adopted the city budget, which this year is a transitional budget as the city goes from a calendar year (Jan-Dec) to a fiscal year (July-June). More on the transitional year budget in an upcoming blog post. [CORRECTION: The public hearing and final adoption of the transitional year budget occurred at the Oct. 11 council meeting; there will not be a public hearing on the budget at the Nov. 14 meeting, only a public hearing on the new water rate ordinance.]

The city purchased additional water for a variety of reasons, according to Chief Financial Officer Frank Ruggiero, including construction and dilution (the heavy snowfall led to a need to dilute water because of the salt). In total, the city spent about $450,000, of which $217,000 was funded through an emergency appropriation and raised in the budget during the transitional year, he said.

The last increase in water rates occurred in 2009, he said, and the proposed rate hike will generate about $231,000 annually.
The water utility carried a prior year operating deficit of $322,000, which needs to be raised in the transitional year. The $217,000 and $322,000 [total: $539,000], plus the amount needed to balance the water utility budget “due to lack of water rent revenue,” Ruggiero said, will require the Current Fund to supplement the utility’s budget by $1.145 million.
The water utility in 2010 ran an operating deficit of about $170,000, with total appropriations of $5.355 million (Page 8 of .pdf of city’s ’11 budget). The proposed 2011 transitional budget (scheduled for adoption Nov. 14) lists appropriations of $5.467 million for the water utility, projecting an operating deficit of about $5,000.
Several council members at the October meeting asked about the possibility of limiting any rate hike to 2 percent in 2012, or revisiting the issue annually. City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier recommended the increase be 5 percent for three years but if the City Council would prefer an annual analysis, “that makes sense.” In that case, he preferred to see the rate hike higher this year, “but I know people are struggling,” he said.
In the late ’90s, the city hired United Water to manage its water utility for 20 years. Pelissier said the savings to the city over that time are estimated to be $32 million. The city still owns and maintains the facility, he said, paying a fee to United Water to manage it. The fee now is at its highest point but by 2014 will drop below $1 million, he said. The city will realize that drop in the operating budget, Pelissier said, adding that water utility surpluses in the past have gone back into the city budget.
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Readers who live near the border of Colonia/Woodbridge might be interested in this bit of news from Woodbridge Patch: “Woodbridge Buys Land Development Rights of Colonia Country Club.” Here’s MyCentralJersey.com’s take on the same story.

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‘Four more years!’

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So, if I’d started college at the same time I started this blog, I’d be done (at least with a bachelor’s degree — luckily I’ve already got one!). Well, that certainly puts things into perspective. But hey, happy anniversary anyway. I doubt I’ve had as much time to devote to the site in 2011 as in years past but I hope it’s been valuable or helpful to you in some way. Regardless, thanks for reading.

On average, the site gets about 1,000 visits and about 1,500 page views per week. In all, there have been almost 181,000 visits, more than 284,000 page views, and 57,500 visitors. Some other statistics about the blog:
– 380 Facebook friends
– 247 Facebook fans
– 161 Twitter followers
– 302 e-mail subscribers

People seem to have really gathered on Facebook in the past year, while email subscribers fluctuated, strangely, between 300 to as many as 330. Facebook and Twitter have been used to sprinkle in some related or interesting development-type stories that might be linked to at the end of an original blot post. Whether it’s a story from a Jersey media source or maybe something in New York or nationally-focused, there’s always something interesting going on elsewhere that provides perspective (or a good idea to steal) for local issues. Let me know if it’s worth continuing, or if you hate it.

Some ideas for the coming year, if I can keep it up, are doing a blog poll more often, and since we’ve got four years worth of writing, maybe a “retro blog post” occasionally, to revisit certain places or projects. Perhaps you have some other ideas for the future? Of course, I know we’re long overdue for another Rahway Rising happy hour.

And of course, here’s how it all started, with the very first blog post.

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It may not be specifically about a Rahway business, but this nj.com story from last week got me thinking about what it takes to start a small business and keep it going: “NJ Couple’s dream of owning business ends in disappointment.”

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