September 18, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 9 Area Towns to get full refund from utilities authority Seven area municipalities will be getting back from the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority the full $1.6 million they believe is owed them. The towns had placed the funds in the debt service reserve when the authority’s plant was built in 1965. The bonds matured last year but the authority initially proposed to use the money to fund current capital projects, to reduce annual charges to members and to offset future rate increases. Bowing to pressure from the mayors of the affected municipalities, who insisted on getting the full amount, the NWBCUA commissioners last week adopted on first read- ing a resolution revising their 2013 budget to reduce the fourth quarter service charges by $1,598,983, an amount negotiated down from $2.3 million between the towns and the authority. The modification will still need to be adopted following a public hearing at a future meeting. “We are optimistic, but until we have something in our hands, we’re going to reserve comment,” said Waldwick’s Borough Administrator Gary Kratz, whose town had taken the lead in pursuing the refund. Allendale Mayor Vince Barra, who served on the nego- tiations committee, expressed greater confidence. “I am pleased with the decision of the commissioners of NWBUA to return $1,600,000 to our towns. I think the decision is fair to both the towns and the authority. We look forward to working with the NWBUA in the future to provide excellent service at the lowest possible cost to our residents.” Wyckoff Mayor Rudy Boonstra echoed those senti- ments. “The mayors of the towns involved wanted the full amount, and that is exactly what they did. Speaking for myself, I am pleased with the action they took and appreci- ate their efforts and their engagement with our subcommit- tee,” Boonstra noted. NWBCUA Executive Director Howard Hurwitz said the budget revision would not affect the authority’s operating budget because the moneys were budgeted in a separate column. He said the funds had been intended to be returned to the municipalities by mitigating future rate increases. “It might affect them in the future,” he said. He added the authority’s attorney and auditor were now working on filing the appropriate documents with the NJ Department of Community Affairs, which must approve the change. A draft resolution Hurwitz circulated to the mayors of the affected towns last month proposed returning only $800,000 this year and placing the remaining funds in reserve to be applied to future rate stabilization in the 2015 and 16 budget years, “when significant service charge increases are projected,” If all goes according to schedule, each town will get its refund proportionate to its user assessment. The approxi- mate figures are: Allendale - $200,000 (12.48 percent); Ho-Ho-Kus - $82,700 (5.17 percent); Mahwah - $470,000 (29.34 percent); Midland Park - $150,000 (8.85 percent); Ramsey - $300,000 (18.6 percent); Waldwick - $210,000 (13.02 percent); and Wyckoff - $200,000 (12.33 percent). The other current member towns are Franklin Lakes, Ridgewood, Saddle River and Upper Saddle River. State and local officials mark 9/11 anniversary Senator O’Toole, who arrived early and spoke to the Delapenha family at some length, said all children should always remember what happened. He remembered taking a boat tour of the site a month after the catastrophe with other members of the NJ Assembly and Senate and seeing (continued on page 15) by John Koster Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno and State Senator Kevin O’Toole joined area mayors and the Allendale Bor- ough Council in commemorating the victims and heroes of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Robert Delapenha, teenaged son of the only Allendale 9/11 victim, joined the lieutenant governor in placing a wreath at the Allendale memorial installed shortly after the attack. The new memorial -- made from a 20-foot girder from the World Trade Center -- will soon be completed. “It’s a piece of the evidence of a crime,” said Guadagno, a former prosecutor who has a son in the service. “I want the children to know that...Every one of us lost friends and/ or feared their loss.” She said 760 New Jersey residents had been killed in the attack and that the total of 3,000 dead exceeded the death toll of Pearl Harbor. “We will never forget what happened on 9/11: A crime was committed,” she told the audience. Allendale Mayor Vince Barra with Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno.