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The Bernards Township Sewerage Authority, Explained: Who Runs the Sewers, the Nov. 24 Rate Hearing and the 2026 Contracts
How the Sewerage Authority is set up and tied to the township, what its 2025 audit shows, the Nov. 24, 2026 hearing on 2027 sewer rates, the contracts and change orders it published in 2026, and the one legal matter in the record.
The short version
- The BTSA is a separate public authority, not a township department. It sets sewer rates, owns the plant and pipes, and awards its own contracts.
- 2027 rates will be set at a public hearing on Nov. 24, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.
- It carries no debt and reported $28.7 million in unrestricted cash at Nov. 30, 2025.
How it is set up
The Authority was established on May 22, 1956 by Township Ordinance #54. Per its page on the township site:
- Plant and system: the Harrison Brook Sewage Treatment Plant, 726 Martinsville Road, Liberty Corner, a 2.5 million-gallon-a-day plant discharging to the Dead River; 11 pump stations; about 95 miles of sewer lines.
- Members: Kevin Orr, chair (term to Jan. 31, 2028); John Crane, vice chair (2029); David Tancredi (2027); Janice Fields (2031); Andrew McNally (2029).
- Staff: Thomas Timko, director (also the Township Engineer); Bob Raymond, plant superintendent; Susan Long, administrative coordinator. Sewer bills: Tax Collector Kevin Sant’Angelo.
- Policy: the page says its projects have been built “within budgets based on a conservative, pay-as-you-go, and no borrowing policy.” It also says that in heavy rain the plant may exceed 5 million gallons a day because of inflow and infiltration, that illegally connected sump pumps are a common source (about 24,000 gallons a day each), and that illegal connections are being addressed “with potential penalties and fines assessed to property owners.”
Meetings. BTSA Resolution #2601 (Dec. 9, 2025) sets 2026 meetings at 6:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday after the first Monday, before Township Committee meetings; notices place them in the Warren Craft Meeting Room, One Collyer Lane. The March 10, 2026 meeting was cancelled.
The township’s role. The township’s 2025 audit (Note 15) says the township provides administrative, financial and bookkeeping services to the Authority under a shared-service agreement, paid $532,757 in 2025; the 2026 introduced budget anticipates $543,412. A separate service contract “requires the Township to pay to the Authority an annual service charge and to make up any deficit in the Authority’s operating and maintenance expenses and debt service expenses” not covered by its surpluses. “Since 1994, it has not been necessary for the Township to make such contributions to cover deficits. The Authority currently has no outstanding debt.” The audit lists 2025 Committee members Andrew McNally and Janice Fields as also Authority members.
On Jan. 27, 2026 the Township Committee appointed Janice M. Fields to a five-year Authority term ending Jan. 31, 2031, 5-0 (Asay, Hodges, McNally, Tompkins, Duarte McCarthy). On Jan. 6 it named Andrew McNally, David Schley and Thomas Timko the township’s representatives to the Somerset County Wastewater Management Advisory Committee.
The 2027 rate hearing
The notice, dated Oct. 15, 2026 and attested by Director Timko:
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE, that the Bernards Township Sewerage Authority will meet for the purpose of conducting the Rate Hearing to set the rates for sewer usage and connection fee for the year 2027.
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2026, 6:00 p.m., One Collyer Lane, Warren Craft Meeting Room. “The regularly scheduled meeting shall immediately follow.” The notice states no proposed rates. The Authority’s current (2026) rates, budget, agendas and minutes are not in the township document folders LocalWhy has reviewed.
The 2025 audit
From the Authority’s published synopsis for the year ended Nov. 30, 2025 (Nisivoccia LLP):
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sewer charges | $5,300,245 |
| Connection fees | $16,484 |
| Ridge Oak HUD project | $27,220 |
| Other fees and income | $255,173 |
| Total operating revenue | $5,599,122 |
| Operating appropriations | $3,304,101 |
| Depreciation | $1,265,269 |
| Total operating expenses | $4,569,370 |
| Interest income / investment income | $1,139,477 / $201,366 |
| Change in net position | $2,166,455 |
| Unrestricted cash and equivalents | $28,732,305 |
| Contracts payable | $3,545,712 |
| Net pension liability | $1,467,321 |
| Total net position | $51,631,173 |
Recommendations: “None.”
Contracts in 2026
The Authority publishes awards and change orders made “without competitive bidding pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:11-5(1)(a).” Amounts as printed:
| Notice | Contractor | Work | Original | Change | New not-to-exceed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 22 | Spectraserv, Inc. | Replacement plant header piping | $719,650.00 | −$113,380.00 | $606,270.00 |
| Jan. 22 | National Water Main Cleaning Co. | Inflow and infiltration Phase III (Crown Ct, Rebel Hill, E. Oak, Stonehouse, Harrison Brook Dr, Annin Rd) | “$908,60.00” as printed | — | $908,600.00 |
| Jan. 22 | DeMaio Electrical | Annin Road pump station improvements | $788,300.00 | +$20,652.30 | $808,952.30 |
| Jan. 22 | T&M Associates | General engineering, 2026 | $65,000.00 | — | $65,000.00 |
| Jan. 22 | Jason N. Sena, Esq.; Richard P. Flaum, Esq.; Joseph V. Sordillo, Esq.; Nisivoccia | General legal; labor counsel; alternate special counsel; auditor, 2026 | $20,000; $3,000; $27,000; $18,140 | — | same |
| June 11 | DeMaio Electrical | Annin Road pump station, change order #2 | $788,300.00 | +$36,043.89 | $844,996.19 |
| June 11 | T&M Associates | Treatment plant facility condition assessment | $39,500.00 | — | $39,500.00 |
| June 11 | Messercola Excavating Co. | East Oak force main Phase III, change order #3 | $593,905.00 | −$6,790.47 | $585,807.53 |
| June 11 | Suburban Consulting | Inflow and infiltration Phase III construction administration, change order #1 | $88,750.00 | +$18,600.00 | $107,350.00 |
| June 11 | T&M Associates | Peracetic acid system design, change order #3 | $177,200.00 | +$61,850.00 | $327,770.00 |
| June 11 | Pichardo Electric | Solar inverters project, 2026–2027 | $550,675.00 | — | $550,675.00 |
| Sept. 23 | National Water Main Cleaning Co. | Inflow and infiltration Phase III, change orders #1 and #2 | $908,600.00 | −$13,254.83; +$5,000.00 | $895,345.17; $900,345.17 |
| Sept. 23 | Joseph V. Sordillo, Esq. | Alternate special counsel, change order #1 | $27,000.00 | +$30,000.00 | $57,000.00 |
| Sept. 23 | DeMaio Electrical | Annin Road pump station, change order #3 | $788,300.00 | −$104,271.19 | $740,725.00 |
The new totals in these notices are cumulative: the June DeMaio total ($844,996.19) adds change order #2 to the January total, not to the original contract.
Progress, per the Mayor’s October newsletter: construction of the Jamestown Road and Annin Road pump stations is complete; the latest phase of lining sewer mains is complete; “construction of a new disinfectant system at the treatment plant is ongoing.”
Toll/Tavistock v. BTSA
On Aug. 25, 2026 the Township Committee went into closed session on “Attorney-Client Privilege - Potential Litigation
- Toll/Tavistock v. BTSA” (4-0; McNally, a BTSA member, was absent that night). The parties’ dispute is not described in any public record LocalWhy has reviewed, and no court filing has been found.
What is not known
- The current sewer rates and connection fee, and what the Authority will propose for 2027.
- The subject of the Toll/Tavistock matter.
What residents can do
- Attend the rate hearing on Nov. 24, 2026 at 6:00 p.m., or the Authority’s regular meetings before Township Committee meetings.
- Contact the Authority at its office, 277 S. Maple Avenue, 908-204-3020, about sewer service.