Ridgewood Declines to Bid on Ramsey Water Utility, But Remains Interested

Despite an ongoing legal battle with neighboring towns over hikes to its water bill, the Village of Ridgewood had expressed interest in acquiring Ramsey's water utility, but has elected not to put in a bid.

Village officials — who recently pushed back a discussion on their own water department's budget — said the two utilities could form a partnership in the future, but a formal bid to acquire Ramsey's water utility would not be entered by the July 20, 2011 deadline. 

"Recently, Village staff have reviewed a request for bid documentation from Ramsey Water and Sewer, visited Ramsey Water and Sewer facilities, and developed a working plan as part of a formal bid proposal to acquire Ramsey Water and Sewer," Village Manager Ken Gabbert said in a press release Thursday afternoon.

Gabbert wrote that the village, with the "operational efficiencies" of Ridgewood Water, could meet Ramsey residents' needs, while also "enhancing the long term Ridgewood Water operations and doing so at a benefit to current and future Ridgewood Water customers."

Still, it's not to be. Not now, anyway.

"While there is promise for a linking of the two water operations and management, such an event will be reserved for the future," Gabbert said. The Village of Ridgewood will not formally bid to acquire Ramsey's water utility for the July 20, 2011 deadline.

The Ramsey utility — which includes over 100 miles of sewer lines and 13 wells serving over 5,600 residents — was originally scheduled for bid on July 7, but was delayed several weeks, Ramsey Borough Administrator Edward Sandve confirmed late last week.

Gabbert sent a letter last week expressing interest in acquiring the utility, but did not provide a figure it would be comfortable bidding at because Ridgewood "got into the process late" and did not have time to properly assess the utility's value.

Ramsey officials have questioned if the utility is worth keeping around, as federal and state testing requirements are costly, according to official meeting minutes.

Ramsey Mayor Chris Botta said putting up its utility for bid is not a decision taken lightly by the borough.

"We have looked at it very closely and we have retained a consultant to do a valuation study and review what environmental issues are out there now and what are around the corner[,] and to answer the question as to whether the 14,500 residents of Ramsey should bear the burden of these mandated costs that are imposed by the State DEP and Federal EPA," he said May 25.

One of the biggest challenges for both Ridgewood and Ramsey's respective utilities appears to be the cost of federal and state testing of particulates, of which over 100 need to be tested for regularly.

Ramsey bore the cost of arsenic remediation when the EPA lowered its standards from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. The state, in turn, lowered its standards to 5 parts per billion and Ramsey was found to have exceeded that level., though Ridgewood Water officials speculate the lab test may have produced an inaccurate test result.

"We expended over a million and a half dollars to upgrade our facilities to provide water at this level and we spend close to $200,000 a year in operational costs to maintain the arsenic treatment system," Botta said at the May 25 meeting.

"What is the next arsenic out there? Is it radon? Is it pharmaceutical waste? Is it sodium or road salt?" he asked in frustration.

Capital projects too, are expensive, as Ridgewood knows all too well.

The council elected to pass on Ridgewood Water's to cut down on inaccurate bills being sent to ratepayers earlier this year.

This past Wednesday, the council pushed back its discussion on the five-year capital budget to Ridgewood Water because Councilman Steve Wellinghorst was not in attendance. Village Manager Ken Gabbert said he urged the council to move quickly, saying the meters are needed desperately. The village elected to introduce an ordinance of $870,00 toward the cost of replacing some meters on July 13 but still have several questions on the five year capital plan, tentatively at $3.2 million per year, according to Gabbert.

Any company being awarded the bid on Ramsey's utility would need to meet the approval of voters in Ramsey by referendum this November, and caps would be placed to ensure Ramsey ratepayers wouldn't see rate hikes as a condition of a sale.

Ratepayers in Ramsey currently pay a minimum $29.66 per quarter and have already been under water restrictions this summer. Rate hikes increased the bills by 16 percent after the borough council approved the measure in April, a .

Forty percent of Ramsey's water comes from United Water, which would not be included in any bid.

There are no connecting systems between Ridgewood and Ramsey, so if there were a future merging, should a July bid not work out in the borough, the two sytems would likely have to operate autonomously.

Though he declined to provide a specific figure, Sandve told Patch last week the operation "is definitely profitable."

The Ridgewood Village Council serves as Ridgewood Water's board of directors and would have to approve a sale should the Ridgewood Water and Ramsey Water departments be combined in the future.

Officials in Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff have called it a "flawed system" in the past, as they can do little but initiate lawsuits to fight decisions made in Ridgewood. Those municipalities have been fighting Ridgewood on the recent rate hikes, alleging Ridgewood is shuffling taxpayer money from those towns in its own budget to compensate for village overtime and other assorted budget items.

Joseph Fiorenzo, the former Wyckoff mayor representing the township in its ongoing legal battle with Ridgewood, said he did not know the particulars of Ridgewood's bid involvement and could not comment.

Calls to Sandve on Thursday seeking comment on if any bids had been received were not immediately returned. Sandve said late last week that his office had not received any.

Village officials could not offer comment on the bid sale discussions, as they were held in closed session.