Hoboken Council Unanimously Approves Suez Water Contract

HOBOKEN, NJ — It’s official: Hoboken and Suez have a deal.

On Wednesday, the Hoboken City Council voted unanimously on second reading to authorize Mayor Ravi Bhalla to enter into a water service contract with Suez Water. The deal was announced last month and given tentative approval on April 17.

According to a statement from Bhalla’s office, the contract includes $33 million in water infrastructure upgrades over 15 years. A new public water utility managed by Hoboken was also approved by the council.

The new public water utility and contract will go into effect on July 1.

According to city officials:

“There will be no change for the process of a bill payment for the Hoboken ratepayer, as the bill will continued to be collected by Suez. However, those funds would be directed into the public water utility that will now be operated by the City of Hoboken, and the majority of funds will be invested by the city into proactive upgrades.”

Officials added:

“In addition to the $33 million for water infrastructure upgrades over 15 years, which includes an average of $2.2 million per year, an additional $2 million investment in smart technology to monitor water consumption is also required.”

“I want to express my thanks to the City Council for unanimous approval of our new water contract and public water utility,” Bhalla said Thursday. Hoboken will finally be able to make critical upgrades to our water infrastructure with multi-million dollar investments that have been lacking for decades.”

• See related article: Hoboken May File Suit Against Suez After 14 Water Main Breaks

While he acknowledged that the new contract won’t solve Hoboken’s water main breaks overnight, Bhalla said that it puts the city on its way to a “significant” upgrade, with six times more investments than currently required.

“Thank you again to city directors Jen Gonzalez and Stephen Marks for leading the negotiations with Suez, to Suez for coming to the negotiating table, as well as the council sub-committee on infrastructure,” Bhalla said.

• See related article: Hoboken City Council Gives Tentative OK To Suez Water Deal
• See related article: Hoboken, Suez Water Reach Deal With $33M In 'Critical Upgrades'

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