The mayor of the Gloucester County town is asking residents to let him know if they think they've been overcharged on their water bills.
MONROE TWP. -- As residents of one Gloucester County town face ongoing problems with high water bills, the mayor is asking them to personally report to him if they think they are being overcharged for water use.
"I can look at it for you. I had one gentleman who told me he was being charged for using 27,000 gallons in the month of May. He'd never used that much before," said Dan Teefy, mayor of Monroe Township, referring to widespread complaints that first prompted an inquiry into the town's Municipal Utilities Authority last summer.
"The data will tell you what's going on."
Despite the replacement of numerous water meters on homes in town and the issuing of credits to some of the affected customers, Monroe residents have spoken out again, saying that they saw similarly high bills in this past billing cycle.
"I was charged for 30,000 gallons for the month of August up from 11,000 for the month of July. MUA coming out to check meter," wrote a woman who emailed NJ Advance Media. "What the heck is going on?"
The authority said in July that a rate increase scheduled for later in the summer had accidentally been applied to bills for the month of May. Even so, some bills are reflecting what some residents consider an unrealistic amount of water usage.
ALSO: Mantua man surprised by $76K water bill
Jerry Moore, head of the Monroe MUA, said that discussion on social media had likely exaggerated the extent of the problems.
"Through Facebook, this thing has become monotonous," he said. "It's the same things being repeated over and over. We did an extensive study, we had an IT contractor look at our billing software, and our metering is fine."
Another family who interviewed with 6ABC said their bill for the month of August was triple their bill for the same time of year in Washington Township, where they lived until recently. That family received a credit from the authority.
"They're stating that the meters are fine, but then why did they give that family a credit?" said Teefy.
Monroe's town council approved a resolution at the end of July to have a contractor carry out an independent investigation at the municipal level. Teefy said the township is waiting for one council member to return from a business trip before making a recommendation for a contractor to carry out the review, but in the meantime, council has met with MUA officials and asked them to hand over their records.
"We've supplied them with all kinds of information," said Moore. "There've been complaints, but the complaints are mostly based on the rate increase, which was the first we've had in seven years."
MORE: Perth Amboy stands firm on 65,000-gallon water bill
The mayor does have a few things he would like to see changed, however.
When Teefy got a new meter at his own home, he found out the MUA does not keep end-of-life performance reports on older water meters that get replaced.
"We asked for the meters they changed out over the last four years and the test results for those meters. But they said they didn't have them," he said.
The mayor also wants the agency to take note of particularly high bills before they are mailed to residents.
"That should be a pre-billing process," he said.
Moore said the MUA would continue to work with the township on reviewing the matter.
To contact the mayor's office in regard to billing issues, Monroe residents should log on to their accounts at monroemuanj.com, compare their invoices to last year's bills and email either a .pdf file or screen shot of the information to dteefy@monroetownship.org.
Andy Polhamus may be reached at apolhamus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajpolhamus. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
