GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Despite voters overwhelmingly rejecting the sale of Gloucester Township’s sewer system, local officials haven’t ruled out trying to sell it again in the future.
About 80 percent of residents rejected an Election Day referendum on whether to allow the township to sell its wastewater system to New Jersey American Water for $143 million.
Last summer, Township Council members voted to approve the sale, which put the controversial matter to a referendum.
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Had the referendum passed, the revenue would’ve allowed the township to decrease and freeze tax rates while eliminating the local government’s debt. But critics worried that privatizing the system would lead to higher sewer bills, while claiming that they mayor had a conflict of interest.
Mayor David Mayer is New Jersey American Water’s director of government affairs. But terms of the sale forbade him from playing any role in the transaction.
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Despite the referendum result, Council President Orlando Mercado didn’t rule out renewing efforts to sell the sewer system down the road.
“We know there is a value to our sewer system, and there is always an opportunity to revisit that,” Mercado said at Wednesday’s council meeting. “We still have a sewer utility we’re running, and we’ll continue to run that.”
Local resident Ray Polidoro said that putting the system for sale again would reject the will of the voters.
There were 22,690 “no” votes and 5,171 residents who voted “yes,” according to the unofficial election results.
“Twenty-one-thousand people’s voices have been heard and you’re going to ignore that,” Polidoro said. “That’s what I hear, and that’s what they’ve heard.”
The sewer system was long managed by the Gloucester Township Municipal Utilities Authority (GTMUA) — a public entity that produced a financial surplus for the municipality.
The township dissolved the GTMUA but retained all of its employees. New Jersey American Water also agreed to retain them if the sale went through.
Here’s Wednesday’s council meeting:
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