file photo
December 19,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in a new twist on the long standing lawsuit again Ridgewood Water a consultant hired by the village says Ridgewood Water actually undercharged ratepayers in 2010 and 2011, a time when the utility was found by a Superior Court judge to have wrongly raised rates to cover village debt.
In July, Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia ruled in favor of the plaintiffs ;Wyckoff, Midland Park and Glen Rock, which are served by Ridgewood Water and had sued the village over rate increases between 2010 and 2012. The three municipalities argued that Ridgewood Water was using the excess fees to cover unrelated operating costs for the village of Ridgewood.
As previously reported Judge Friscia, called Ridgewood Water’s rate hikes arbitrary, and told the village to recalculate the charges.
An announcement Monday by Village Manager Heather Mailander said that Howard Woods, the consultant hired to recalculate the correct rates, released a 247-page “initial report” to Judge Friscia on Monday, stating that customers were actually undercharged for their water usage during the first two years covered in the lawsuit.
Mailander’s announcement went on to say that despite the increase there was still an overall “shortfall” of over $400,000 for the span of all three years.
Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff are currently appealing the July decision and are asking for not only a recalculation of rates, but are seeking $13.4 million in refunds and $3.6 million in damages.
I wonder how much the 3 towns had to pay their attorney for all this work.
Their attorney is an absolute buffoon if he didn’t take an early deal. He should have taken the money while he had the chance. Let’s hope this ends up with money due to Ridgewood.
Any consequence for the employees responsible for this? Now what?
“A consultant hires by the village” ….end of discussion.
I herd a Hundreds of thousands of dollars
They will blame it on a computer glitch, you know that there was gonna be some kind of bullshit story. I don’t really think we are all stupid.
Had har her de har har.
Consultant HIRED by the Village?
So the consultant HIRED by the Village is going to say otherwise?
And how much of our tax dollars went to this asshole and who at the water department authorized this?
Where’s the accountability ?
And guess what? The 3 towns are going to get every penny because when judge Friscia reads the report and stops laughing she will take the report for what it is… COMPLETE BULLSHIT.
Hows that Elks club purchase coming along?