Lake Hopatcong Commission Won't Shut Down

The Lake Hopatcong Commission will live. But weed harvesting will last just another week.

The commission, charged with ensuring the lake's health a decade ago, seemed on the verge of collapse in June when it decided to with no guarantee of state reimbursement. Then the commission learned the money a prominent Republican lawmaker inserted into the state's preliminary budget , leaving the commission wondering how it would stay afloat.

But at Wednesday's emergency funding meeting, Chairman Russell Felter said the commission will have enough money to survive through Dec. 31.

But it will halt weed harvesting at the end of July—not nearly enough time to clear the weed-infested lake.

Hopatcong Representative Michael McCarthy said the state's decision not to fund the LHC was disappointing.

"It's sad to drive over River Styx Bridge and see all the muck," he said. "People pay a lot of tax money to be on the lake or to enjoy the lake. People come to the lake to swim. But when they come in and they see that muck, it's not really good."

Felter, Jefferson's mayor, said weed harvesting will last another five to seven days—"Unless pennies fall from heaven," he said—and then workers will need another week to return the harvesters to Franklin for storage.

Felter said the commission will have just $27,873 left after paying weed-harvesting personnel on Aug. 12. The money is supposed carry the commission through the rest of the year.

The commission decided in June it would spend $32,000—or most of its remaining budget—on July weed-harvesting, employing five seasonal workers to use four harvesters. Soon after, Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-25), in collaboration with other senators, said he inserted $600,000 into the state's preliminary budget for commission funding, but it was removed.

"That lake is going to turn into a swamp," Bucco said at the time. "If that's what they went to happen, then it's going to happen."

While Felter said he was confident in administrator Donna Macalle-Holly's budget figures, Mount Arlington representative Tom Foley's proposal for an independent auditor to check her math was backed by Department of Community Affairs representative BettyLou DeCroce. DeCroce said she could have the DCA look it over and have its results by August.

The commission unanimously approved the idea, especially considering it recently learned representatives could be held criminally responsible if the commission overspends its funds. "I know there's some concern we're all going to jail," Felter said. "But that's not happening."

Instead, the LHC will live through 2011.

"And [the commission] started out with very high hopes," McCarthy said. "Here we are, 10 years later, and we're trying to pick up the pieces and trying to live month to month. The inability to plan and the inability to count on anything, that's very hard to digest and work through."