SEWER SERVICE
Hamilton delivers on promise to file lawsuit against Robbinsville over sewer bill
HAMILTON >> See ya in court.
Mayor Kelly Yaede’s administration followed through with a standing threat to sue Robbinsville Township over their $2.8 million sewer billing dispute.
Hamilton insists Mayor Dave Fried’s municipality hasn’t paid its fair share for the 15 percent of its flow for shared sewer services. Fried says his municipality is current on its tab and has pushed for a rate study he believes will settle the billing controversy.
West Orange attorney David Mairo filed the complaint Monday in Mercer County Superior Court on behalf of Hamilton. He declined to comment on the well-publicized dispute.
The administration announced the filing of the lawsuit in a news release on the township website.
The complaint accuses Robbinsville of breaching an agreement with Hamilton that has been in place since 1976.
Hamilton contends the Municipal and County Utility Authorities Law allows it to charge “rents, rates, fees or other charges for ‘direct or indirect connection with, or the use or services of, the sewerage system’ and, which the authority deems ‘practicable and equitable.’”
Fried has complained about the Yaede administration’s math. Robbinsville paid about $1.9 million for sewer services in 2017.
The township produced documentation showing Robbinsville owes a collective $2.8 million for 2018 and 2019 sewer service.
Robbinsville paid only $1.6 million of its $2.8 million bill in 2018, and about $1.1 million of an estimated $2.8 million bill for 2019, according to the lawsuit.
“Robbinsville is in breach of the agreement for paying less than the amount due and owing for its use of the Multi-Municipal Sewerage System,” the lawsuit says. “Robbinsville’s failure to abide by the terms of the agreement, has caused Hamilton to suffer a substantial loss totaling $1,537,346.64, including interest as of July 2019.”
Robbinsville’s mayor said he hadn’t seen a copy of the complaint but was already licking his chops at the thought of his township’s legal team being allowed to question Yaede and Co. about the sewer utility under oath.
Robbinsville filed a separate public records lawsuit against Hamilton earlier in the year related to the billing dispute.
Business administrator David Kenny claimed at a meeting that suit was resolved but Fried said the municipality still hasn’t received the requested records from Hamilton.
“I got my top five people I want to depose: Kelly Yaede, John Ricci, Dave Kenny, [suspended chief financial officer] John Barrett and number five, the famous little brother-in law, Rich Mulrine,” said Fried, adding the filing of the suit won’t compel him to pay up. “Barrett has claimed there was an email from John Ricci that they didn’t want to raise [sewer] rates because it was an election year. If he’s got that email, which I think he does, it’s going to be devastating for them.”
The legal dispute has stretched on for months, and intensified again last week when BA Kenny said at a meeting Yaede no longer supported a rate study.
The townships had previously agreed to split the tab for the rate study, with Hamilton setting aside $15,000 in the sewer budget for its share, budget documents show.
Yaede claimed in interviews last week that she never supported a rate study, and communicated as much in a letter to council president Jeff Martin, despite multiple representations from top members of her administration to the contrary, including ones captured on video during a budget workshop in May.
Kenny responded to the video by claiming he and interim chief financial officer Phil DelTurco spoke out of turn.’
In a statement, the Yaede administration accused Fried of attempting to “mislead the public” about the purpose of the rate study, calling it the “final straw.”
Kenny said he attempted to negotiate with Robbinsville’s attorney for months, and had reached a settlement, until the township walked away from it.
The BA accused Fried of using stall tactics to get out of paying the bill.
“This misleading tactic left us no further choice other than seeking to recoup what is rightly owed to Hamiltonians through the courts,” he said in a statement.
Yaede, who is up for reelection against the Democrat Martin, said in a statement she wouldn’t “allow Hamiltonians to subsidize Robbinsville. In June, I made my belief clear that calls for a rate study were simply being used as a stalling tactic . ... Sadly, as summer comes to an end, I have been proven correct as Robbinsville has still not paid its fair share owed to Hamiltonians.”
Martin, who supports a rate study, called the lawsuit a last-ditch option.
“If Robbinsville owes Hamilton money, and this is the only way we can get it from them, then I support a lawsuit,” he said.
He added the litigation could cost the township “tens of thousands of dollars” in attorney fees and “it would have been cheaper to pursue a rate study and handle this as part of a negotiation.”
Yaede added that Robbinsville accounts for “20 percent of sewage entering our system,” which wasn’t lost on Fried.
He pointed out that township officials have repeatedly said Robbinsville was responsible for 15 percent of the flow.
“If anyone wonders why I don’t trust Team Yaede’s numbers, one need look no further than the most recent press release,” he said. “Now Robbinsville is 20 percent of the flow, up 5 percent from last week’s press release.”
Kenny said in an interview Robbinsville’s flow increased from about 16 percent last year to 19 percent this year.
“Fried wasn’t happy with what we proposed, so now we have to have a court decide it. We can charge anything as long as it’s not patently unreasonable, and it’s not unreasonable to charge someone based on the percentage of use. I would hope Robbinsville would be reasonable and work this out.”