Report: Utilities Authority to Refund $469K to Mahwah

A long negotiation between the Northwest Bergen Utilities Authority and seven local towns is over, and Mahwah will reportedly walk away from it with more than $469,000.

According to a NorthJersey.com report, the NBUA voted this week to return $1.6 million in bond insurance to seven Bergen County towns. Mahwah, Waldwick, Wyckoff, Midland Park, Allendale, Ramsey, and Ho-Ho-Kus were asking for the return of monies they paid to the authority nearly 50 years ago to construct and operate the sewage treatment plant, the report said.

The bonds will be returned in the form of fourth quarter rate reductions for the seven towns, the report said.

Mahwah will receive about 29.34 percent of the total $1.6 million refund, or $469,142  the report said.

Township officials discussed the potential return of the funds at a council meeting Thursday night. Business Administrator Brian Campion said that Mahwah has been working with the other six towns to negotiate the return of the funds.

The refund will be paid to the township's sewer department, where payments to the NBUA come from, he said. However, officials can choose to reallocate the money back into Mahwah's general operating budget, he said.