Crowe v. Mayor and Council of Sparta Tp.

• Decision Date: 01 July 1969
• Citation: 106 N.J.Super. 204,254 A.2d 801
• Parties: William H. CROWE, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs-Respondents, Cross-Appellants, v. MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF the TOWNSHIP OF SPARATA, Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Respondent.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

Page 204

106 N.J.Super. 204

254 A.2d 801

William H. CROWE, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs-Respondents Cross-Appellants, v. MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF the TOWNSHIP OF SPARATA Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Respondent.

Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division.

Argued June 9, 1969.

Decided July 1, 1969.

John R. Knox, Newton, for respondents-cross-appellants (Morris, Downing & Sherred, Newton, attorneys).

Francis E. Bright, Newton, for appellant-cross-respondent (Dolan & Dolan, Newton, attorneys).

Before Judges CONFORD, KILKENNY and LEONARD.

PER CURIAM.

We are not entirely satisfied with the reasoning of the trial court that the rate schedule fixed by the sewer rate ordinance is invalid because fixed to recover the capital cost of the sewer improvement project.

In the first place, the stipulation of facts indicates that as a result of discussions with sewer users before enacting the ordinance, the governing body decided to reduce the rates originally projected, and the final rate schedule reflects that policy decision. One cannot confidently conclude that the municipality, when actually enacting the ordinance, expected any substantial return of capital to ensue therefrom. Actual experience, as seen Infra, bears this out.

Secondly, we are not as clear as was the trial court that the case of River Edge Homes, Inc. v. Borough of River Edge, 130 N.J.L. 376, 33 A.2d 106 (Sup.Ct.1943), is authority for prohibition of sewer rates designed to recapture cost of system construction as distinguished from expense of current maintenance. River Edge forbade only an assessment for special benefits when the project had been built as a general municipal improvement. Cf. Jersey City, etc., Auth. v. Housing, etc., Jersey City, 40 N.J. 145, 149, 190 A.2d 870 (1963). A municipality has plenary statutory power to charge for the use of sewerage facilities, N.J.S.A. 40:63--7, subject only to the general restriction against patent unreasonableness. Plaintiffs' real grievance here is the Amount of the charges, contended to be unduly high as compared with sewer rates charged by other municipalities. The general fiscal situation and the peculiar requirements and costs in respect of the sewerage system of a particular municipality render comparisons of rates with those in another municipality of dubious value, at best, in determining reasonableness of the former.

But whether or not River Edge, supra, should be construed to proscribe sewer rates designed to recapture original cost and financing incidental thereto where a sewer project has been constructed as a general municipal improvement, we have concluded that the validity of this ordinance can and should be sustained on the basis that the municipality is not here actually recovering such original capital costs. In this regard, we entertain the view that even if historic cost in such a case as...