Newark City Council Approves Sewer, Water Rate Hikes

NEWARK, NJ — Sewer and water bills are about to go up in Newark.

On Tuesday, the Newark Municipal Council gave its final approval to ordinances that pave the way for increases to sewer and water bills in the city over the next five years. Watch the meeting video here.

The council voted unanimously in favor of two ordinances: 23-0778 (which approves a water rate increase), and 23-0874 (which approves a sewer rate increase). Senior citizen rates will remain the same.

The rate increases will become effective from Aug. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2027.

Kareem Adeem, director of the Newark Department of Water and Sewer Utilities, outlined the planned fee structures during a presentation to the council on May 23. The proposed water rate increases were:

• 2023 – 3.5%
• 2024 – 2.5%
• 2025 – 8.6%
• 2026 – 6.5%
• 2027 – 8.1%

The proposed sewer rate increases were:

• 2023 – 4.05%
• 2024 – 3.8%
• 2025 – 7.1%
• 2026 – 6.6%
• 2027 – 6.1%

Adeem said that the water and sewer infrastructure in Newark is more than 200 years old. Over the next decade, about $1 billion in improvements will be needed to maintain the combined systems.

Meanwhile, annual expenses are projected to increase by $47 million over the next 10 years, he continued. If the city doesn’t raise its rates, the utilities will begin to incur deficits in 2025, which will balloon to more than $40 million by 2032.

Watch Adeem's comments in the video below (cued to the presentation).

The fee increases were brought up for a first reading at the council’s meeting on June 7 (watch the video below, cued to the discussion).

Citing previous information from the city’s Department of Water and Sewer Utilities director, councilman Carlos Gonzalez questioned if the fee hikes were “a little bit on the high side.”

Adeem pointed out that Newark has only raised its sewer and water fees three times in the last 30 years – counting the current round of hikes. The last rate increase took place in 2015.

Adeem recapped information he previously presented to the council, adding that Newark’s sewer and water rates five years later will still be lower than what other nearby towns and water systems pay today.

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