Taxes may be reduced due to utility revenue BY TARA PETERSEN Staff Writer MILLTOWN — The borough will reorganize its electric utilities department in order to make it more profitable. The plan includes raising the rates by 15 percent for eight high-end users, including the Home Depot and Target stores on Ryders Lane, said Councilman Mike Skarzynski, liaison to the utilities. Additional revenue from the increase is expected to be about $180,000 annually, he said. "It’s almost four tax points," or 4 cents on the tax rate, Skarzynski said. "That’s a lot of money for a small town like Milltown." The borough, he said, is one of only nine communities in New Jersey that runs its own electric distribution department. The borough buys its own electricity in bulk through negotiations that the New Jersey Power Association has with utilities providers for the nine municipalities. "Our residents and commercial [users] pay less than if PSE&G were in town. With the added increase, the high-end users will pay a little more," he said. There are no plans to increase the rates for residents or the smaller businesses in town, according to Skarzynski. "We don’t want to raise rates, especially with taxes going up. We were careful not to bring any added burden to residents," he said. There is also a demand charge for customers that use more than a certain amount of electricity, he said. Churches, schools and other nonprofit organizations are exempt from this charge, though there are three remaining nonprofit users in Milltown that still pay the fee — the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2319, the American Legion Joyce Kilmer Post 25 and the Milltown Rangers. Skarzynski asked the council to draft a resolution to absolve those customers from the demand charge, something that would cost the borough about $10,000. The council is also looking to hire a full-time professional to oversee the purchase of bulk electricity and to manage the infrastructure. The position would be called the superintendent of electrical distribution utility and water/sewer utility, which would have a $40,000 salary, he said. "We’re looking to hire somebody with expertise in buying bulk power," Skarzynski said. "We want to have someone head the department and have it run more like a business." After hiring a professional and absolving the nonprofit businesses of the demand charge, the borough still stands to gain $130,000 annually. Skarzynski said the money will be used to defray taxes and will also fund infrastructure improvements in town. "We should be doing more preventative maintenance," he said. The new rates, adopted by the Borough Council May 10, take effect June 1.