September 11, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 3 Area NBCUA proposes returning half of sought funds The Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority is considering returning half of the money from a bond reserve seven of the member municipalities believe is owed to them, but the affected towns are hopeful the full amount will be forthcoming as negotiations continue. In a draft resolution sent to the member towns on Aug. 13 and scheduled for discussion and adoption at the NWBCUA Sept. 12 meeting, the commissioners propose to amend their 2013 budget by taking $800,000 from their “other reserves” account and applying it to a reduction in the annual service charges. The seven towns affected would each receive a cut in their fourth quarter payment to the authority proportionate to their user assessment. The mayors of the seven towns met last month to dis- cuss the proposal and were unanimous in their objection to any reduction in the $1.6 million determined to be a fair refund. “Everyone is on board. We want back what we are entitled to,” said Waldwick Mayor Tom Giordano. “We’ve respected everything they’ve asked, but they are split 4- 4. We want the money in our pocket.” The nine-member authority is short one member. Ironically, Peter Dachno- wicz , the Waldwick resident on the board, resigned ear- lier this year due to a relocation and a replacement has yet to be appointed by County Executive Kathleen Donovan. “All the municipalities involved are in complete and total agreement that the full amount of $1.6 million should be returned, as we have already reduced the amount requested from the original $2.9 million,” said Waldwick Borough Attorney Craig Bossong. Waldwick took the lead in trying to recover the funds, initially believed to be as much as $8 million, which had been placed by the original towns in the debt service reserve when the authority’s plant was built in 1965. The bonds matured last year, but rather than returning the money to the towns, the authority decided to use the money to fund current capital projects, to reduce annual charges to members and to offset future rate increases. According to the letter from NWBCUA Executive Director Mark Hurwitz which accompanied the draft resolution, the remaining funds, $798,983, will be placed in reserve to be applied to future rate stabilization in the 2015 and 16 budget years, “when significant service charge increases are projected,” the letter states. But Bossong pointed out that the authority has other surplus and reserves that it could draw from to create the stabili- zation fund. “Can the authority make a case for using the $800,000 better than the contributing communities? I think not,” said Midland Park Mayor Patrick “Bud” O’Hagan. “Even so, we have our financial needs, and it is our money not theirs,” he added. The original founding towns also object to late comers to the authority benefitting from the reserve fund without (continued on page 20)