Sewerage Authority Reps Address Damage, Budget

Representatives from the Manasquan River Regional Sewerage Authority (MRRSA) addressed questions of the authority's services, the impact of recent storms as well as its budget at a Tuesday night meeting of the mayor and council.

Jesse Tantillo, one of the township's representatives to the authority, said a problem has been found in the lines in at least one section of the town. Tantillo said at the intersection of Route 9 and West Farms Road there was a "breach" that reportedly resulted in sewer water going onto the roadway. "We had a company do a video of the line, and we found that there was two cracks right under the intersection," he said. 

Bids are currently being taken for the repair work in the area and Tantillo said there is hope that the damage can be traced to either Hurricane Irene or the earthquake a few weeks back. If that is the case then FEMA funds may possibly be used to help pay for the repairs. 

With the end of the month marking the deadline for filing for FEMA aid both Mayor Robert Walsh and Township Manager Helene Schlegel said even if there is no definitive information on the cause of the damage, an application should be put in.

"What I would suggest is to at least do a preliminary damage assessment report," Schlegel said. "Even if you're unable to get the exact reason, if you miss the deadline there will be no reimbursement."

Tantillo also addressed the authority's budget. He said that process is continuing as they look to see what they have to work with and what has happened in the past year. "It looks like everything we planned for, the connection fees is coming in," he said. "Even though it's a shoe string budget and everything's tight, it looks like everything we've planned to have coming in is coming in."

Deputy Mayor William Gotto said that in a recent meeting with the authority's director there was a chance to ask about how some of the fees were assessed to the township. "We went through a pre-assessment of where we were going to be with the budget because obviously we weren't really happy with last year having to raise the sewer rates," he said. 

Gotto pointed to the projected "build outs" for the township and the flow rates that would come with that. "The takeaway I got from that was that we discovered that the number was grossly off and had to do with I believe we were probably not recording it right," he said. "I believe that since then we are reporting it right. I guess I'm asking to make sure you keep a target out for that because the projected flow rates were really the item that gave us the most pain when we went through the budget last year. We would expect to see that correction made in our favor this year."

The members at the dais asked Tantillo and fellow representative Thomas Savino to get the council the budget numbers as soon as possible to help them understand what any changes might mean.

"Just make sure we get that sooner rather than later," Gotto said. With this being such an important issue for the town, the deputy mayor said he would like to see it fixed to help the residents of the township.

"At some point we have to do something to get some relief back," he said. "Every time we come across an obstacle it just seems like it's an obstacle that just comes out of nowhere and these estimated flow rates with the number of future users just doesn't make sense anymore."

With the two representatives in attendance Gotto asked them to continue their efforts to help their Howell neighbors. "Anything you can do to stay on top of that and get that information so we can fight those fights ahead of time instead of having to react when it's too late. We just can't be doing that anymore."