By JACKIE HANUSEY
Staff Writer

LINWOOD – Hoping to be on top of infrastructure improvements, City Council passed an ordinance Sept. 10 raising sewer fees for the first time since 1992.

Residents had been paying $125 twice a year. This will now increase an extra $25 per pay period, or $50 a year.
Councilman and Revenue and Finance Chair Alex Marino said the increase was not taken lightly, and the city compared its fees to others in the area during a two-year process.  Somers Point charges $270 a year, while
Northfield charges $280 a year.  An increase was proposed in 1998 here, but not acted upon.

The increase in fees will allow the city to build a sewer reserve dedicated to infrastructure repairs, he said.

“It’s an aspect of government you don’t think of,” Marino said. “You don’t think of sewers until they break,” he said, an unseen problem becomes an expensive repair.

Half of the increase, $25 per year, from each household will be set aside in the sewer reserve account.

“The realization is that it is cheaper to fix something today rather than have the problem worsen and be more expensive tomorrow,” he said.

The majority of the city’s sewer system is 40 years old, the councilman said, and council has been dedicated to assessing the city’s infrastructure.

City engineer Steve Mazur has been working on a road inventory that includes roads surveyed, gutter checks, sewers and paving to help establish a pecking order for future projects.

The inventory is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. 

With projects then set to be itemized for the next five to 10 years the city would coordinate and contact other utilities when roads are opened. 

There are some problem areas that flood when it rains, and while that may not happen in everyone’s area of town, Marino said everyone travels through town, and problem areas need to be taken care of.  It is the city’s responsibility to repair pipes, while the Atlantic County Utilities Authority is responsible for water treatment.