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33 Comments
I ‘ve been saying for years that every time they flush the toilet or make ice cube, to make millions, Marina Grill, D’Jais and such are costing, COSTING, the taxpayer money. No one was listening. Well, people, maybe now someone will speak up. A graduated system would be fair to residents. Have these cash machines add another 50cent surtax to that martini. Oh, and by the way, does Marina Grill even pay for that water they make millions on??? SCAM. If so, double it.
Mark, would you consider commercially selling our own water in gallon huge just like Poland Spring brand? It’s done in Florida.
Please tell me Marina Grill and Fishermans Cave dont get free water. That would make me sick.
Are water bills OPRA,able?
#4 … all water bills can be viewed & paid @ Belmar.com
Get ready for the next tax increase too.
Brewery sells Belmar water by the glass and kegs.
#5 Need a list of all business and personal adresses first. Then audit that list against who pay. My son, CPA, told me
Stop all the sump pumps from entering the sewer system. Spring Lake having the same problem
Find out how much Marina View towers owes on water.
I thought the town was going to use smoke to find out who is pumping into sewer system? Did anyone hear of this?
DPW / Water dept. should be doing these tests ASAP quick video
Water System uses smoke testing to find cracks, breaks, and other problems with sewer lines that need to be repaired. This video gives an overview of how it works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Clh7zId2A
The water billing has always been difficult in Belmar. As a landlord I have been stuck with many tenants bills because when you go to close out one tenant to another you are still given the wrong amounts. This year was a real eye opener with a tenant owing approx 5,800 dollars. It turned out the meter was not read in 2 years? How many other meters have not been read in town ? After many heated discussions with the Borough I have 3 months to pay off this ridiculous amount of money. The borough said they have a button on the computer to flag unread meters that they will now use, so I guess some good will come out of this terrible mistake. My question is if you are an employee for the town and are in charge of billing, and we have X amount of meters and you don’t notice a meter is being read or not? Gross negligence on the town for never notifying me that my meter is not being read. There is one department that reads the meter and one department that bills the resident.
You would hope the 2 communicate.
I would like to know how many others are out there that owe tons of money that has been neglected on being collected because of broken or unread meters. If anyone has that information I would appreciate it.
It’s time the Borough considers selling our water utility to NJ American – 1sr of all our infrastructure is ancient and the repairs will be costly – that expense will be on the taxpayers – the Belmar Well is only allowed to be used in the summer – we can’t possibly make enough profit on 3 months worth of water sales to pay for infrastructure repairs – I believe the last time this was discussed NJ American was willing to pay Belmar over 13 million – once sold water prices would remain the same for 2 years – so unless Belmar is allowed to sell its own water 12 months a year – Mayor and Council should seriously look into this-
There was a referendum on it in the 1990s and it was voted down.
The 90’s seems like a century ago – it might be time for a serious revisit – at least a real informative report- the Taxpayers should be informed with Transparent Pros and Cons – hard to imagine that a small town like Belmar could be as efficient as NJ American –
FYI – in Belmar minimum Quarterly Water Bill is $77.35 – I believe you get about 4,000 gallons – and it’s like $15 per 1000 after that in Brielle for instance the minimum Quarterly is $155 – so Belmar is not out of line at all
Ms. Renner I’m sorry to hear about that. I’m surprised the boro wasnt willing to work something out with you. Kind of reminds me of a story years ago when ex police chief/ town administrator Richard Lynch didnt pay his property taxes on his rental properties. I believe his excuse was I forgot, it got lost in the mail, no one reminded me, blah blah blah. He should have gone to jail but his position gave him leniency. Not to mention his wife was the secretary to then mayor Pringle. Moral of the story is it’s not what you know its who you know in this town. Special treatment for special people.
#13. Vickie, I’ve had similar problems with readings at my home. In our case, it wasn’t the meter, but the electronic transmitter they use to read it. Last month the Mayor & Council adopted Ordinance 2020-01, which purports to make property owners liable for replacing/repairing leaking water main laterals all the way to the main (not simply to the curb). The Ordinance also provides that we have to use contractors on an approved list maintained by the DPW. One my clients was recently told she had to replace her lateral – which was under a County Road. The first Borough-approved contractor gave her a price of nearly $6k. I was able to persuade the Borough that the Ordinance can’t be applied to her because the Borough was aware of the leak before the Ordinance took effect.
The Ordinance goes so far as to state that those laterals, the meters and the electronic transmitting devices are now owned by each property owner, and we’re now responsible for paying to replace them. I think the ordinance is unlawful on multiple grounds. But in the meantime I expect that those of us who have had non-working transmitters are going to get letters saying we have to pay to replace them.
#18 I’m sure you didn’t mean to suggest that the property tax laws were applied differently to Richard Lynch’s properties because of me. That would be libel. There is no law requiring that we pay our property taxes on time. Instead, the law imposes a high interest on overdue amounts and at the end of year any properties with outstanding property taxes go to tax sale in the following year, at which time investors can buy the Borough’s lien on those properties and if the lien and any accrued interest is not paid off in 2 years, the investor can foreclose on the property. But in the meantime,Belmar always gets its tax money with interest.
the auditor said we’re getting dinged for higher debt service payments … the largest increase …
does the debt service include the A Street and Lake Como pipes?
Ooowww. Mr. Pringle, libel? My point was Mr. Lynch owned rental property and didnt pay his taxes for years. Was it a brain fart, who knows. I hope he paid the the appropriate fines and liens t the town. If so, the only reason he did is because he got caught. Otherwise he had the untouchable attitude for the reasons I raised before. You can deny you were apart of protecting him all day long which is total BS. Pringle, quit while you think your ahead. I’ve been around a long time and have lots of beans to spill.
#19: Are we now looking at a potential class action suit to protect the residents against the above references improper Ordinance?
23 – I’m onboard.
Hi Ken, our meter was tampered with but I can not prove who did it . My point is if the tenant gets the bill and I do check they are paying when I pay my own bill, how is the landlord supposed to know they were only receiving minimums for 2 years? The borough employee should recognize properties that are only receiving minimums and notify the water department and the property owner that something is wrong. The arrogance of handing me that bill and saying pay accordingly was unbelievable. It doesn’t mean a thing to the employee who gets her check whether she does her job or not . Another good one is the town puts pavers down on main street , they sink and cause a hazard and we get a notice to fix it . Billy went down there after knee surgery and repaired it and we sent the town a bill. They haven’t payed us yet! It’s amazing how incompetent people can be and it’s up to the resident to fight back. How do they get away with this? If we can collect all the money owed that would help pay our bills , but you can’t bill someone after 2 years an exorbitant amount of money and expect them to have it immediately . I asked for a payment plan but all interest will be added. Very sad system in place and on top of it you are saying we get to repair an antiquated infrastructure because someone didn’t do their job. Improvements should part of every department heads job in the borough . I’m sure they maintain their own homes and vehicles. Accountability is key to running a town properly.
Ken Pringle We got a $3500. water bill last time with only 2 of us in our home part time. We questioned it. They said our meter had not been working, they replaced it and charged us for it but say the bill is what it is and we have to pay it. If someone is going to take legal action/class action. We would be on board.
#18/22 you obviously have a bone to pick with Ken Pringle, but be that as it may ,you are grossly misinformed on the subject of NJ real estate taxes. Read the statute or ask the tax collector, the property owner who is late or fails to pay can end up losing their property or paying taxes plus interest at rates as high as 18% last i checked. The date of payment and the process of tax sale will determine how much interest is paid. It has nothing at all to do with who you know.And we no longer have debtors prisons.
On Ord 2020-01, how did that slip thru without any scrutiny [or did i miss it?]on this blog or commentary in the news? Seems unseemly to put that responsibilty back on the property owner by fiat. Is the boro,the buyer of the electronic readers, going to say the property owner should have known theirs was defective and refused to accept it? or should have returned it for repair? I have a problem also with the idea that i as a property owner have responsibilty for piping or anything else that is off my property. But before we start lawsuits,class action or otherwise, we should force OUR elected officials to revisit the ordinance. Unless most of the property owners think that the M&C is right on this.Taxpayer/water consumer revolt/strike if that is what it takes.Lastly, #14,15,16 read together should be up for review. !990’s thinking may no longer apply but we won’t know without looking at the issue carefully.
Vicki – hate to tell you but Water Bills are only issued to Property Owners not Tenants @ u can add your Tenant on if his/her meter is separate – landlords should always get the Water Bills – then give your Tenants a Copy to either pay direct or Reimburse you if you choose to pay- if your Tenant skips a quarter or 2 without payment – you can always ask the Water Dept to turn off the meter – same as Gas and JCPL do when there is non- payment – should be a clause in your Lease
Master Blaster all my tenants water bills go directly to them and they pay their own bills like mist responsible adults . In this case the tenant was receiving a minimum charge that he payed thinking it was his usage? Or because the meter was tampered with was it knowingly done so it was a minimum charge ? Who knows My point remains the same a Red flag should have been recognized that the meter was not going past the minimum in an occupied building Someone make a call to the top person and notify the owner of the building Not hard stuff especially when we now find out there are others that did not know . It’s all money the Borough should have been collecting in the last 2 years If my tenant didn’t leave and I didn’t pay to get a special reading this problem would have continued for God knows how long . So It came to light and now because of this we find out there are others that owe money too
Could the electric meter systems have been damaged in the aftermath of Sandy, such as water intrusion and or power surges/outages? Wouldn’t insurance come into play and if so, we ho owned the damaged, nonfunctional meters?
#30 …. electric meters are sealed non-resetable units …. the meter pan is the customer’s responsibility according to the JCP&L tariff.
Belmar’s Water & Sewer Utility isn’t regulated by the NJ Board of Public Utilities and rates were ‘socialized’ years ago …. the matter of making property owners responsible for service lines from the street to the meter may thwart available funding for lead line replacement.
Eugene I believe #30 is talking about the water meter readers ,that part that is on your house or on top of water meter pit at curb that is wired to your water meter not the electric meter.
#32 …. Yep! …. I forgot that some water meters have a E-Z Pass like device for readings …. the water meter here is old with 3 wires leading to an outside port …. never a problem.
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