Articles Roads and utilities
The Miller Avenue Sewer Proposal and the Sewer Utility, Explained
What the Township's July and September 2025 letters and the revised August 2025 map say about extending sewer to the Miller Avenue area, why the Township is going ahead only with the "A-Green" area, what the November 2025 sewer-rate ordinance changed, the Neshanic pump station work, and what the 2025 audit says the sewer utility takes in, spends and owes.
The short version
- The Township asked Miller Avenue-area residents whether they wanted public sewer, priced four sub-drainage areas from $140,400 to $1,275,525 in a July 16, 2025 letter, and met with them on Aug. 14, 2025.
- Its Sept. 19, 2025 letter says only the five-home “A-Green” area is cost-effective; the Township intends to design a sewer there, paid by an assessment the letter estimates at $30,000 to $35,000 a home, and will not proceed with the larger “C-Blue” area.
- Miller Avenue itself is to be repaved at no cost to its residents; no road work is proposed on Central Place or Station Road.
- Townwide, Ordinance 2025-1503 (adopted Nov. 24, 2025, 5–0) raised sewer rates, which the Administrator said adds about $50 a year for the average home on public sewer.
- The 2025 audit reports $3,374,484.41 in use charges and a $4,249,338.76 operating fund balance at year-end.
The July 2025 letter and the map
Township Engineer Doug Ball’s letter of July 16, 2025, “to the residents of the Miller Avenue area,” says earlier Township inquiries led it to review options to extend sanitary sewers to Miller Avenue, Central Place and a section of Station Road east of house no. 107. Based on the topography, the area has several sub-drainage areas that could discharge into existing municipal sewers. The Engineering Department’s preliminary estimates:
| Area | Preliminary project cost | Homes that could connect | Cost per home if all connect | Homes interested | Cost per home, interested only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-Green | $183,600 | 5 | $36,720 | 5 | $36,720 |
| B-Orange | $307,350 | 6 | $51,225 | 3 | $102,450 |
| C-Blue | $1,275,525 | 16 | $79,720 | 8 | $159,440 |
| D-Red | $140,400 | 2 | $70,200 | 1 | $140,400 |
The letter set a meeting for Aug. 14, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building courtroom.
The plan sheet “Possible Sanitary Sewer Extension Miller Ave., Station Road and Central Place,” drawn at 1 inch = 100 feet on an October 2024 base and “Revised August 2025 - Lots 2, 10.01, 11.08, 20, 24,” marks homeowner interest by lettered section:
| Section | Homes on the map | Marked as wanting sewer |
|---|---|---|
| A | 5 | 5 |
| B | 6 | 2 |
| C | 18 | 8 |
| D | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 31 | 15 |
The July letter and the August map count homes and interest differently for areas B, C and D; the September letter calls the August map the one “showing the sub-drainage areas and the current residents interested in public sewers.”
The September 2025 decision
Township Administrator Gregory Bonin’s letter of Sept. 19, 2025 summarizes the Aug. 14 meeting “for the benefit of the individuals unable to attend”:
- The road. The project began with a plan to repave Miller Avenue with driveway aprons and culvert restorations, which waited on the sewer question. There will be no widening, curbing, sidewalks or water main, and the road work will be at no cost to Miller Avenue residents. No road improvements are proposed for Central Place or Station Road.
- How sewer is paid for. Any Township sewer improvement requires a cost to the residents who benefit. An “assessment” applies when a supermajority (70% or more) of an area’s residents want sewer; it is assigned to all properties in the area and is the lower of the increase in assessed value or the actual construction cost, and the Township will likely not build if the cost far exceeds the assessed value. The letter says the assessment “could be in the range of $30,000 to $35,000 and usually paid over ten years, but that would be determined later.” A “contract assessment” can apply without a supermajority: the residents who sign repay the total cost, and others pay a connection fee of about $8,000 if and when they connect.
- Connection. Under either method, connection is not mandatory unless a septic system is failing or must be replaced.
- The result. Apart from “the small pocket of residents near Darcy Drive,” the rest of the area “voted not in favor.” The latest polling shows the A-Green area (five homes on Miller Avenue) as “the only cost-effective project,” to be paid by assessment, with an opportunity to include two adjacent homes. The only other area with interest, C-Blue, would cost an amount “unreasonable for the public or Township to fund,” and the Township “will not be proceeding with a sewer project in this area.”
- Next. “Given the public vote and costs associated with the project options, the Township intends to move forward on the feasible project (A-Green project area),” and “can now begin the design process.”
Since the decision
In the Township Committee’s minutes from November 2025 through Oct. 12, 2026, Miller Avenue appears in two bill-list payments:
- $11,440.00 to Schwanewede Hals & Vince for “Survey Miller Avenue,” on a purchase order dated Oct. 22, 2025, in the bill list approved at the March 9, 2026 meeting.
- $200.00 to SRVSA, check dated Oct. 8, 2026, for “Miller Ave TWA App Fee,” in the addendum bill list approved at the October 12, 2026 meeting.
The sewer-rate increase
Ordinance 2025-1503 amends Chapter 10, Section 10-5, “Rates for Sanitary Sewerage Service.” It was introduced at the November 10, 2025 meeting, where Mr. Bonin said it “will add $50 to the average home on public sewer,” and adopted at the November 24, 2025 meeting on motion of Mr. Schworn, seconded by Mr. Owens, 5–0 (Aye: Schworn, Columbus, Owens, Beatrice, Young). No one spoke at the hearing.
| Property | Old annual rate | New annual rate |
|---|---|---|
| Unmetered nonresidential | $1.40 per gallon per day of projected flow, minimum $399 | $1.50, minimum $450 |
| Unmetered residential | $1.40 per gallon per day of projected flow | $1.50 |
| Metered | $5.38 per 1,000 gallons, minimum $399 | $5.85 per 1,000 gallons, minimum $450 |
For metered properties it also removes a $63.50 quarterly meter administrative and inspection charge. Finance Director Diane Schubach said the Township “has had a difficult time keeping up with the increases from the Somerset Raritan Valley Sewerage Authority, and it is essential for the utility to maintain financial stability.” On Nov. 10, Mr. Owens said the Township does not take sewer-fee increases lightly.
Pump stations and capacity
- Capacity study. On Nov. 24, 2025 the Committee hired Mott MacDonald for a “Meter Chamber 12B hydraulic model sanitary sewer collection system capacity evaluation” (Res. 2025-214, 5–0). Mott MacDonald was reappointed sanitary sewer engineer on Jan. 5, 2026.
- Neshanic pump station. Mr. Bonin said June 8, 2026 that the Township was upgrading the Neshanic Pump Station. On Sept. 14, 2026 the Committee amended Mott MacDonald’s professional services contract for construction-phase engineering oversight of the upgrade (Res. 2026-158, 5–0 consent).
- Maintenance. The Committee authorized bidding for pump station maintenance, repair and parts (Res. 2026-101, May 26, 2026) and awarded the contract to Rapid Pump & Meter Service Co., Inc. (Res. 2026-152, Aug. 10, 2026). The bill list approved July 27, 2026 includes $515,002.65 to W.E. Timmerman Co. for a Vactor sewer jet.
What the sewer utility takes in and spends
The 2025 audit, dated Aug. 3, 2026 and acknowledged by the Committee on Sept. 14, 2026:
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sewer use charges collected | $3,374,484.41 | $3,410,074.05 | $3,335,404.36 |
| Sewer levy | $3,411,353.34 | $3,364,586.26 | $3,420,575.04 |
| Operating fund balance, Dec. 31 | $4,249,338.76 | $4,861,736.70 | $4,706,508.52 |
The audit says the use-charge figure includes collection of prior-year levies. 2025 also saw capacity charges of $321,466.67, total sewer utility revenues and other income of $7,849,602.06, and $2,606,000 of fund balance used as anticipated revenue. Appropriations were $4,706,000 for operating costs, $600,000 for capital improvements and $550,000 for deferred charges and statutory expenditures — $5,856,000 in all. The 2026 User Friendly Budget lists a $5,685,000 sewer operating-fund appropriation for 2026, a different budget form and year from the audit’s 2025 figures.
Cash and debt, on different schedules. The 2025 Annual Financial Statement’s cash reconciliation lists sewer operating cash of $5,377,172.65 and sewer capital cash of $3,686,461.52. The audit’s balance sheet lists $5,200,000 of sewer capital serial bonds payable, a $5,620,000 deferred reserve for amortization, and $7,720,000 of fixed capital authorized and uncompleted. The 2026 User Friendly Budget reports $2,100,000 of gross utility-fund debt against an equal deduction, or $0 net, on its own table. These are different schedules and bases; the record provides no reconciliation, and none is treated here as the definitive net sewer debt.
What the utility is building
The audit’s sewer capital schedules list named accounts, including:
| Account | Figure in the audit |
|---|---|
| Neshanic Pump Flood Mitigation (ordinance 2021-1418) | $3,000,000 authorized and uncompleted |
| Sewer System Upgrades (ordinance 2023-1449) | listed among authorizations |
| Purchase of Equipment (ordinance 2024-1474) | $170,000 original authorization |
| Fixed capital, total | $9,403,696.57 at Dec. 31, 2024 → $14,249,191.45 at Dec. 31, 2025, after $4,845,494.88 of completed projects |
Other named fixed-capital accounts include Chambers Brook Sewer, South Branch Sewer, Old York and Dreahook Improvements, Relining & Reconstruction of Brandywine, Stony Brook Road Sewer, River Road line extension, Norton sewer improvements, Neshanic Station sewer and North Branch sewer and its extension. No account in the 2025 audit is labeled Miller Avenue.
What comes next
- Design of the A-Green sewer and the Miller Avenue road reconstruction, which the September 2025 letter says the Township can now begin; the assessment amount “would be determined later.”
- The Neshanic pump station upgrade, now under construction-phase engineering oversight.
What residents can do
- Read the letters and the map. The July 2025 letter, the revised plan and the September 2025 letter are in the Township’s Document Center under “Miller Avenue Improvements.”
- Ask the Engineering Department. The letters invite questions to the Township Administrator or Township Engineer Doug Ball at 908-526-1300 ext. 142.
- Attend and speak. Township Committee meetings are the second and fourth Monday at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building courtroom.