VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING
MARCH 27, 2019
7:30 P.M.
1. Call to Order – Mayor
2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act
MAYOR: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided
by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall,
by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”
Ridgewood NJ, On Friday, March 1st, Ridgewood Water presented the utility’s 2019 budget to the Ridgewood Village Council. Links to a copy of the presentation and supporting documents are located below:
Ridgewood NJ, according to Ridgewood Water , “We have a responsibility to protect our drinking water supply from exposure to and contamination with toxic PFAS, and yesterday’s filing is just one step of many that we are taking towards fulfilling that responsibility. The companies that knowingly sold and promoted these products – despite recognizing that they would impact our drinking water – must be held accountable for the costs we will incur to remove them, and that is what this lawsuit is all about.
Ridgewood NJ, Mayor Hache fills us in on all the details and where we stand . Since 2010, the governing bodies of the three communities outside of Ridgewood served by Ridgewood Water (Gen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff) have been engaged in a law suit, which challenged the allocation of expenses by the Village for the water company’s budget. The 3 towns felt that a 21 percent increase in rates in 2010 was excessive. The actual rate per 1,000 gallons is not excessive and, in fact, is in the lower middle of rates offered by other neighboring water utilities and still much cheaper than Suez. The challenge was started by the governing body of Wyckoff, whose auditor is a member of the former auditing firm of the Village when similar allocation methods procedures were used by the Village for the Water Utility budget. The claim argued that the methodology used by the Village in allocating percentages of Village expenses to the Water Utility was unfair (since it was not actual expenses) to the 3 towns and it caused the rates for water usage to be unreasonably excessive to the rate payers of the 3 towns and those rate payers were subsidizing the property taxes of Village residents.
The methodology used by the Village had been accepted by the Local Finance Board of the State in 2004, and the Village continued using that method throughout the years. This litigation which was started in 2010 (and amended in each of 2011 & 2012), finally reached trial in 2017. The trial court decided that the ordinances which approved rate increases in 2010, 2011 and 2012, did not have an adequate factual basis in the record that would warrant the rate increases that were adopted by the Village. As a result, the Court required the Village to hire an expert to calculate what the appropriate rate increases for the years in question should have been. The Village (while still disagreeing with the Court’s decision that the record lacked an adequate factual basis), complied with the preparation of the rate study by hiring the most qualified expert in the field of water rate studies, Howard Woods. Mr. Woods completed his rate study and has recognized that the Village did not adopt excessive rates during those years challenged by the 3 towns.
The three communities decided to appeal the Court’s decision, and that appeal is pending; the Village cross-appealed on those issues raised by Plaintiffs. Their requests to stay the rate study pending the outcome of the appeal has been denied (at least for now) by the trial Judge. The rate study was presented to the Village Council in early 2018. The Village Council adopted an ordinance to adopt rates established by the Woods study, with the purpose of establishing rates for the years of 2010 through 2017.
“I live on the East side of Ridgewood. Our water, even after filtering, both tastes and smells horrible. I think this part of Ridgewood has been converted to Suez water. Ridgewood water used to be so pure that pediatricians actually said you didn’t have to boil the water to make formulas! I grew up on water that had gone through a desalination plant and it was heavily chlorinated , but drinkable. I really can’t say that Ridgewood’s water is drinkable now.”
Ridgewood NJ, “Our goal at Ridgewood Water is to provide customers with safe, continuous, and dependable drinking water. As part of our customer commitment, we want to tell you about a change to your current/upcoming bill.”
Effective first quarter 2019, the Facilities Charge that is a portion of your water bill, will increase as approved by the Village of Ridgewood Council (Ordinance #3637) on June 28, 2018. The Facilities Charge is a fixed quarterly fee that helps fund the cost for maintaining our treatment and delivery systems, meter installations, meter reading and billing. This charge is based on the size of the meter installed at the property and does not vary with consumption. No changes have been made to the rates on water usage.
Approximately 92 percent of customers use a 5/8″ meter and are likely to see an average increase of about 6% in their current total annual bill.
If you don’t know your meter size, click HERE to see where you can find it on your invoice.
To see the full table of new meter rates, click HERE.
Ridgewood Water’s last meter fixed rate increase was in 2014. Since then, Ridgewood Water has invested $25 million in infrastructure improvements.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Water is seeking to identify the companies behind the chemical contamination of its water supply know as PFAS .
PFAS do not occur naturally, but are widespread and extremely persistent in the environment. They are man-made chemicals that have been used to make carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for food and other materials (e.g., cookware) resistant to water, grease or stains. They are also used for firefighting at airfields and in a number of industrial processes.
While Ridgewood Water is working to identify specific sources, and has retained a California-based law firm to potentially sue over the expensive costs of meeting new state and federal water quality standards.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Water encourages all residents to protect our Groundwater and properly dispose of unwanted medication. Scientists have expressed concerns about the effects of medications being released into the water supplies after having been flushed down the toilet or poured down the sink. Source: NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. For more information and a list of Project Medicine Drop :
VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL REGULAR PUBLIC MEETING NOVEMBER 28, 2018
8:00 P.M.
1. Call to Order – Mayor
2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act
3. Roll Call – Village Clerk
4. Flag Salute and Moment of Silence
5. Acceptance of Financial Reports
6. Approval of Minutes
7. Proclamations
NONE
8. Comments from the Public (Not to exceed 3 minutes per person – 40 minutes in total)
9. Village Manager’s Report
10. Village Council Reports
11. ORDINANCES – INTRODUCTION – RIDGEWOOD WATER
NONE
12. ORDINANCES – PUBLIC HEARING – RIDGEWOOD WATER
NONE
13. RESOLUTIONS – RIDGEWOOD WATER
Ridgewood Water is well managed and they are responding to unfunded mandates. Did you not tune in and note that for the past few years they have run the water company well below their own projections and below the operating expenses of similar public and private water companies? The presentation should be online. There is a well directly next to the house on Goffle so my guess is the need the space for additional pumping or treatment. Buying the Elks and moving the Water staff of Village Hall out gives the RPD the office space they need in Village Hall. It also will consolidate water staff for better efficiency and oversight. Buying up the property directly next to the municipal complex, regardless of the future occupants, makes sense in my opinion. It will address any future needs that arise. To not buy it would be shortsighted; I hate additional spending (I am vehemently opposed to the mega-garage) but these purchases make sense.
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Village Council has finalized the purchase of the old Elks lodge by Ridgewood Water on North Maple next to Ridgewood Public Library and Village Hall . This ends a long saga involving the sad demise of the Ridgewood Elks . The Elks lodge was closed in 2016 and was contested by the local Elks leadership which in the end failed to resurrect the lodge.
VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING NOVEMBER 7, 2018 7:30 P.M.
1. Call to Order – Mayor
2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act
MAYOR: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided
by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall,
by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”
Ridgewood NJ, Starting the evening of October 21, 2018, at 9 pm, Ridgewood Water (RW) will perform hydrant flushing in the systems of all four municipalities served by the utility. This is an essential part of our system maintenance program, because it helps us to continue to provide you with high-quality water service.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Public Library presents a Public Water Forum ,co-Hosted by League of Women Voters of Ridgewood, NJ with Debbie Mans (Deputy Commissioner of the NJDEP) as the featured speaker. Find out how this summer’s excessive rain will impact our water supply and if tiered pricing is the way of the future for water.
Today at 7:30 PM – 9 PM
Ridgewood Public Library
125 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
