Gloucester County officials weigh steep water and sewer rate increases to fund aging system

Gloucester County officials on Feb. 4 outlined a plan to pay for $30 million-plus in water and sewer capital needs and agreed to hold a public hearing in April on a proposed 14% across‑the‑board rate increase.

At a work session, Trish Legg, Gloucester County utilities director, said the county budgeted $11,000,000 in FY25 revenue for utilities but now projects about $9,900,000 and has paused most capital projects to cover operating shortfalls. “We budgeted $11,000,000 and I am projecting 9,900,000.0,” Legg said.

Legg told supervisors the utilities fund has an unrestricted fund balance of $1,640,000 at the start of the year and she anticipates using about $1,612,000, leaving roughly $27,000. She said the FY25 budget had assumed using $1,300,000 of unrestricted fund balance; lower fee revenue forced deeper drawdowns and project pauses.

Why it matters: County water lines and pump stations are decades old in parts of Gloucester. Supervisors were told some mains date to the 1960s–70s, pump stations run through flood zones and collection lines tied to Pump…