Mayor and Township Committee Call for Review of Raritan Township Stormwater Utility as a Funding Source

RARITAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Mayor Brad Perry and the Raritan Township Committee announced the Township will undertake a comprehensive review of the stormwater utility to determine whether it remains the most effective and equitable approach for funding the community's stormwater management needs.

"Several years have passed since Raritan Township started down the road of a stormwater utility, and the Township Committee and I believe we owe it to our taxpayers to take a fresh look at whether it is achieving the goals set for it," Mayor Perry said. "We need to determine if this model, presented to us by experts as the best solution at the time, remains viable for our community. If not, it should be discontinued."

The Mayor and Committee emphasized that while the Township is fully committed to meeting its environmental obligations, the utility itself must be evaluated strictly as an effective funding mechanism.

"As a governing body, we will always do what is best for our business owners, residents and the environment, and we have consistently addressed important infrastructure needs to meet increasingly demanding state-mandated stormwater requirements," Perry said. "However, the utility was the mechanism selected to fund these activities. We would have been making this necessary progress regardless. The Committee’s question now is whether this specific funding model is still the right one."

The Committee noted that circumstances surrounding the utility have raised legitimate questions about its execution that deserve thorough examination.

"When this approach was adopted, there was an expectation that all property owners benefiting from stormwater services would contribute their fair share. Unfortunately, the State has not lived up to its part of that bargain by neglecting to pay its stormwater fees, and other entities have followed its example," Perry said. "The Township Committee recognizes that this raises a fundamental question about the long-term fairness and viability of the utility. If some of the largest property owners can refuse to pay, we must understand what that means for everyone else paying the fee and explore our options for remediation."

The Township's review will examine financial sustainability, fairness to taxpayers and property owners, and whether alternative funding approaches could meet Raritan Township's needs more effectively.

"This review will be driven by facts, not by a predetermined outcome," Perry said. "Good government means the entire Township Committee being willing to revisit past decisions when circumstances change. If it proves to be inequitable and there is a better, fairer way forward, we are fully prepared to pursue it."

"Our shared responsibility is to protect our community, meet our environmental obligations, and be careful stewards of taxpayer dollars," Perry concluded. "We have a plan in place to implement the State’s stormwater management requirements, and now is the right time for us to determine together if the utility is sustainable and fair to our business owners and residents, or if it is time to pursue other options."