Progress Made Regarding Sump Pump Situation

Mayor Rose Heck said progress is being made in regards to the and thanked the public at large for its response, especially those who were unaware that their sump pump connection was causing problems for others in town and are now voluntarily conforming with the law.

The mayor addressed the audience on this situation and several others during a special forum Saturday held in the senior center. She was joined by Borough Administrator Mike Kronyak, Tax Collector Conchita Parker, Construction Code Official Nick Melfi and Police Chief Michael Colaneri and Officer Jeffrey Werner all who were on hand to address matters such as the status of the property reassessment process, the homestead benefit and the borough’s response and clean up efforts following the Oct. 29 snow storm.

Melfi was on hand to provide specific explanations as to what makes a sump pump connection illegal. Basically it is the dumping of storm water via sump pump directly into the borough’s sanitary sewer system.

it was found there were many homeowners who did have their sump pumps connected to the sanitary sewer system and, as the mayor has said she had suspected, most were not even aware of it. Heck said she learned of many cases in which the homeowners had found that plumbers had incorrectly hooked up their sump pumps when they were first installed years ago.

During the August hurricane, several homeowners had to evacuate their homes due to the backup of raw sewage in their basements caused by the overflow to the sanitary sewerage system which officials said was caused by illegal sump pump dumping. The borough set out to rectify the problem by educating the public on this matter in order to prevent this from happening again.

Normally the sanitary sewerage system is at about 30 percent capacity, Melfi said, but with the additional storm water from sump pumps during such a heavy rain event, it was well above 100 percent full. The proper way to discharge a sump pump is to have it connected to a hose that dumps out on to one’s property about 10 feet away so as to not flow back towards the house, Melfi explained, adding that people should also keep in mind that the hose should not be directed towards a neighbors yard so as to not flood their yard.

Mayor Heck said unfortunately the only way for the borough to really know whether the proper impact has been made to resolve the problem is for another huge storm to take place.

Property reassessment process

Appraisal Systems, the company hired to conduct the , has completed its field work having inspected all residential and commercial properties and are now finalizing numbers to determine new property values, Kronyak told the audience.

By the end of this month all property owners will receive a letter with their new assessment. “The was done because the economy caused values to drop so much we had to do something to stop tax appeals and accurately reflect true property values,”  Kronyak said.

The borough has had to deal with a record number of tax appeals over the past year predominantly from commercial businesses, Kronyak explained. The results from the reassessment won’t change how much is raised in taxes but it will change how the tax burden is spread out, he explained.

Although at this point he does not know what the tax rate will be, he believes that residential property values will likely drop more than commercial will which may mean there could be a shift of the tax burden towards commerical properties.

FEMA/Storm costs

The borough is waiting to find out if it will be able to receive. Kronyak explained the preliminary paperwork had to be filed with the county which then submits the numbers from all towns to FEMA for reimbursement.

The preliminary numbers came out to $70,000 - about $38,000 for police and DPW overtime for cleaning roads and another $32,000 towards the cost for debris removal. He said they are ready to go with the information they will need to provide for the next steps if they are eligible for reimbursement.

It can take anywhere from 6 to 8 months or longer for FEMA reimbursement to come in, Kronyak said, therefore if the borough is to be reimbursed the funds will not come in until 2012.

Homestead benefit

Parker explained the changes to the homestead benefit which now comes to homeowners by way of a credit off their tax bill, no longer via a check.  She explained that about 1,200 in town have been deemed eligible for the credit this year and will receive a letter explaining the credit amount which goes towards their February 2012 tax bill.

Parker said the average benefit was around $1,600 but the amount varies as it is based on income.

One of the issues the borough had had to deal with is the sale of a home during an interim period where the tax credit may be applied to the tax bill for a new homeowner. The borough credits the qualified homeowners off their tax bill and then the state reimburses the borough the amount credited in one lump sum, Kronyak explained.

They reminded homeowners to contact the tax office if they believe they were eligible for this benefit but did not receive it and they will investigate it with them.

Police department

As the “Cops” television show theme song “Bad Boys” played, images of police department members mixed in with images and facts about the history of the department flashed on the screen. Officer Jeffrey Werner created this special video tribute to the which was screened for the audience members.

Werner explained it originally started out as a Power Point presentation and has since added some background music and more images to it to convert it into video format.  The informative video featured many facts about the department and the borough, including a little of everything about the town from its schools to the business district and the surrounding highways. It also pays tribute to late police Chief Howard Baker and Chief Bruce Werner.

During the discussion that followed the screening it was suggested that a voice over be added to the video to further explain the information behind the images. Officials said there will be plans to screen it again for the public in the future.