Metro PCS, AT&T Contracts Net $71K for Township

Two contracts nearing completion would provide about $70,000 in revenue to help aid taxpayer relief, according to the township committee finance chairman.

Committeeman Kevin Rooney spoke Thursday about the details of two ordinances passed this week that would award tenancy on a cell tower near Cedar Hill Avenue and Route 208 to a pair of mobile phone companies. 

The contracts, which Rooney said are both in the final stages of completion, would authorize Metro PCS and AT&T to install one co-locator each on the existing tower — with an annual rent of $36,200 and $35,000, respectively.

"Every little bit helps especially in this economy," Rooney said, adding that it was imperative for him that the .

The first terms of the contracts are for five years, with four additional five-year options, at a rate adjusted by the consumer price index.

Rooney expects the technology to be installed "sometime in September or October" after both contracts are finalized, and taxpayers would see the additional revenue in future budgets, beginning in 2013. 

Real estate on the towers is limited, however, and the committeeman said tenancy at each of the three towers in at or near capacity.

"But that's really determined by technology, Rooney said. "As technology changes there could be more co-locators [installed in the future.]"

Beyond limited expansion, Rooney was hard-pressed to come up with negative factors created by the installation of additional co-locators at cell towers.

"When the towers already exist, I don't see a negative," he said.

The township has been exploring installation of additional cell towers on municipal property, Rooney said. He specifically highlighted the possibility of the Department of Public Works yard on West Main Street as a future location.

Prior to the latest pair of contracts, the township earned an annual sum of $328,000 collectively from each of the three towers around town: $164,000 from the tower directly behind Memorial Town Hall, $134,000 from the Route 208 tower, and $30,000 from the monopole at Memorial Field, according to figures reported on NorthJersey.com.

The Township Committee — a wireless technology consulting firm helmed by NJ Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon — to guide Wyckoff's strategy on cell towers and co-locators. 

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