another attempt at sale. In 2019, New Jersey American Water again submitted a proposal to acquire the system, which included a $12.7 million purchase price with a commitment to invest $13 million more in the first five years of ownership. Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure in a November 2019 referendum by a 2-to-1 margin. The transaction closed in October 2020.
BOROUGH OF MOUNT EPHRAIM, CAMDEN COUNTY
The Borough of Mount Ephraim sold their municipal water system to New Jersey American Water in 2007. After more than a decade of quality water service, the Borough Commissioners unanimously decided that seeking bids to sell their wastewater system would be prudent as well. The bid process to sell the wastewater system was initiated in 2018, and New Jersey American Water was the successful bidder at $1.4 million. A public referendum was held in November of 2018, and voters overwhelmingly approved the measure by a margin of 79 percent to 21 percent.
New Jersey American Water adopted the Borough’s existing rates and agreed to hold those rates for two years, pending approval of the NJBPU. Thereafter, increases would be limited to three percent per year for the next three years of a five-year rate plan. As New Jersey American Water already provided water service to most of the Borough’s wastewater customers, we simply added the wastewater charges to the existing water bills, providing customers with one monthly bill that clearly identifies the charges associated with water service and the charges associated with wastewater service.
While New Jersey American Water adopted the Borough’s existing rates, we did alter the frequency of which Borough residents paid for wastewater service. Billing for wastewater service became monthly with the current annual charges split into 12 equal monthly installments. Monthly billing provides customers with smaller bills and makes it easier, especially for those on fixed incomes, to include the cost of wastewater service in their monthly household budget. In addition, this change to billing extended the conveniences of New Jersey American Water’s online, paperless billing and auto bill pay features to wastewater charges - one monthly bill, one monthly payment.
The company agreed to invest more than $4 million in the first four years of owning the Borough’s wastewater system. New Jersey American Water began operating the wastewater system in July 2019. To date, New Jersey American Water has invested $2.2 million into the wastewater system. The investments include two sewer main replacement projects coordinated with the Borough’s road paving program, pump replacements, and the purchase of emergency backup pumps. In addition, equipment was added to the Harding Avenue pump station to help prevent sewer backups and to prolong the life of the station’s pumping equipment. Capital improvements also include the installation of remote control and data acquisition equipment to both pump stations. By the end of the year, New Jersey American Water will complete replacement of the Second Avenue Pump Station, investing an additional $2.3 million.