08/22/2025
Good Afternoon My Fellow Cliftonites
The hot topic of Tuesday’s Council meeting was updating the sewer fee ordinance.
For far too long Clifton residents have disproportionately funded our aging sewer infrastructure. Why you ask? In many instances issues arose after the building of high density housing projects which never required the developers to make the necessary infrastructure upgrades which then lead to years later the taxpayers footing the bill to fix flooding and sewer backups in their homes. A prime example is the flooding issues on Patricia Place and in front of the Horizons Senior Building on Clifton Avenue.
After much research and examining other cities, I discovered we greatly undercharge residential and commercial developers. This is something even multiple professional sewer studies missed.
After relaying my findings to all my council colleagues, taking their input especially Joe K concerns; then working with the City Manager, Legal, Engineering, and tax department, last week we presented an ordinance to right this wrong. The flat $2,500 fee per new unit or addition was replaced by a square footage based fee so if you were only adding a bedroom or bathroom to your cape cod because you had another “Baby Sal” on the way your charge would be just a few hundred dollars but if you turned your 2,000 sq ft cape into a 12,000 sq ft “Mc Mansion“ you would pay the full $2,500 fee.
This update would have not provided hundred of thousands but MILLIONS of dollars in future revenue to our sewer utility and more fairly share the costs lowering future rate hikes on residential taxpayers.
The Mayor and two of my colleagues voted no to this change because they said it would hurt “ the little guy” wanting to expand their homes and deter them from doing so. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. This past week I drove around and took random pictures of single family homes turned into multi million dollar “Mc Mansions” and high density housing complexes. Does anyone believe they would not have been built over a $2,500 sewer connection fee? I find it odd that these colleagues voted yes to raise fees on permits and police reports that amount to a few dollars which actually affect “the little guy“ they claim to be protecting. So we voted yes to mere dollars in revenue but voted no to future millions in revenue. I’m sure you all would like to know their reasoning on this.
For example:
For the new 20 unit complex on Mt. Prospect Ave., the current
ordinance brings approximately $3,600 into the fund. The new ordinance, had it passed, would bring about $42,000 into the fund.
Under the current ordinance, a “Mc Mansion” addition would bring only about $160 into the fund. Under the new ordinance, had it passed, it would be $2,500.
For a large development (like the 300 apartments being built at the old Black Price Distillery) the current ordinance brings about $48,000 into the sewer utilty. The new ordinance, had it passed, would bring about $600,000 into the utiliity. That’s more than a full tax point! A fun fact…once fully rented that development will bring in range of 12 MILLION dollars a YEAR to the developer. We didn’t even have an agreement with the developer for them to update the 120 year old piping in the roadways they will be connecting to or add a single storm
drain in the roadways to address the flooding issues that already exist and will become even greater now that there will be no place for the water to go.
I do have some good news. Councilman Gibson was unable to attend the meeting so it was a 3-3 vote and our motion failed. However Councilman Gibson was listening to the meeting and has requested this matter be put on the budget agenda next week so he can vote. Help and results are coming! Thank you Councilman Gibson !
Lastly, as I was meeting with administration and reviewing our sewer ordinance, I requested 3 new random developments to see what they were paying in sewer fees. They came back zero. Upon review it was discovered that we base sewer rates on the previous year’s water bill. That being said, the development was obviously vacant land or under construction the previous year, so development has been receiving 1 free year of not paying a sewer bill and you, the residents have been picking up the tab. Something again our sewer studies missed! We immediately realized that policy had to be changed! For the first year moving forward, the new policy will be to bill new accounts or permits issued on the water bill on a first quarterly basis. This will eliminate that 1 free year loophole which will bring in hundreds of thousands of future revenue to our sewer utility.
The majority of my colleagues and I are working hard to right the wrongs of the past decades. This fix will be the greatest leap forward to fixing our financial future.
I am posting random photos of just a few of the endless multi million dollar “Mc Mansions” and developments being built as examples of “the little guys” my colleagues allege they are trying to protect and claim is the reason they voted no to the new ordinance.
To our constituents, we ARE moving forward and we ARE changing Clifton’s future… sometimes with small steps and sometimes with great leaps. Getting this new ordinance passed and in place will be a great leap forward for our taxpayers.
