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Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 40:14B-22

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interests therein. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • State: extends to and includes any State, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Canal Zone. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
22. Every municipal authority is hereby authorized to charge and collect rents, rates, fees or other charges (in this act sometimes referred to as “sewerage service charges”) for direct or indirect connection with, or the use or services of, the sewerage system. Such sewerage service charges may be charged to and collected from any person contracting for such connection or use or services or from the owner or occupant, or both of them, of any real property which directly or indirectly is or has been connected with the sewerage system or from or on which originates or has originated sewage or other wastes which directly or indirectly have entered or may enter the sewerage system, and the owner of any such real property shall be liable for and shall pay such sewerage service charges to the municipal authority at the time when and place where such sewerage service charges are due and payable. Such rents, rates, fees and charges, being in the nature of use or service charges, shall as nearly as the municipal authority shall deem practicable and equitable be uniform throughout the district for the same type, class and amount of use or service of the sewerage system, except as permitted by section 1 of P.L.1992, c.215 (C. 40:14B-22.2), and may be based or computed either on the consumption of water on or in connection with the real property, making due allowance for commercial use of water, or on the number and kind of water outlets on or in connection with the real property, or on the number and kind of plumbing or sewerage fixtures or facilities on or in connection with the real property, or on the number of persons residing or working on or otherwise connected or identified with the real property, or on the capacity of the improvements on or connected with the real property, or on any other factors determining the type, class and amount of use or service of the sewerage system, or on any combination of any such factors, and may give weight to the characteristics of the sewage and other wastes and any other special matter affecting the cost of treatment and disposal of the same, including chlorine demand, biochemical oxygen demand, concentration of solids and chemical composition, and, as to service outside the district, the cost of installation of necessary physical properties.

In addition to any such sewerage service charges, a separate charge in the nature of a connection fee or tapping fee, in respect of each connection of any property with the sewerage system, may be imposed upon the owner or occupant of the property so connected. Such connection charges shall be uniform within each class of users, except as provided by section 5 of P.L.2005, c.29 (C. 40:14B-22.3) and except as provided by section 5 of P.L.2005, c.173 (C. 44:14B-22.4), and the amount thereof shall not exceed the actual cost of the physical connection, if made by the authority, plus an amount computed in the following manner to represent a fair payment towards the cost of the system:

a. The amount representing all debt service, including but not limited to sinking funds, reserve funds, the principal and interest on bonds, and the amount of any loans and the interest thereon, paid by the municipal authority to defray the capital cost of developing the system as of the end of the immediately preceding fiscal year of the authority shall be added to all capital expenditures made by a municipal authority not funded by a bond ordinance or debt for the development of the system as of the end of the immediately preceding fiscal year of the authority.

b. Any gifts, contributions or subsidies to the authority received from, and not reimbursed or reimbursable to, any federal, State, county or municipal government or agency or any private person, and that portion of amounts paid to the authority by a public entity under a service agreement or service contract which is not repaid to the public entity by the authority, shall then be subtracted.

c. The remainder shall be divided by the total number of service units served by the authority at the end of the immediately preceding fiscal year of the authority, and the results shall then be apportioned to each new connector according to the number of service units attributed to that connector. In attributing service units to each connector, the estimated average daily flow of sewage for the connector shall be divided by the average daily flow of sewage from the average single family residence in the authority’s district, to produce the number of service units to be attributed.

The connection fee shall be recomputed at the end of each fiscal year of the authority, after a public hearing is held in the manner prescribed in section 23 of P.L.1957, c.183 (C. 40:14B-23). The revised connection fee may be imposed upon those who subsequently connect in that fiscal year to the system.

The combination of such connection fee or tapping fee and the aforesaid sewerage service charges shall meet the requirements of section 23.

L.1957,c.183,s.22; amended 1971, c.298; 1985, c.526, s.3; 1992, c.215, s.2; 2005, c.29, s.4; 2005, c.173, s.4.

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