Paterson council approves ordinance raising sewer use charges; changes take effect in August and November

The Paterson Municipal Council on June 23 approved Ordinance 26-008 amending Paterson Code section 407-18 to update sewer use charges that have not been adjusted since 2021. The council voted five in favor, one opposed and three members were absent, and the administration said the new rates will appear on the city’s second-half sewer bills in August and again in November.

The ordinance was introduced by the administration as a first-reading public hearing item; no members of the public spoke during the hearing. Council members asked procedural questions during discussion: Councilman Bles asked how many votes were required to adopt the ordinance and the city’s finance official replied, “Five,” referring to the affirmative votes required for passage. The administration said the new charges take effect for the second-half billing cycle (August and November).

During discussion a council member referenced a roughly 4% adjustment shown in the ordinance documents and cited an example moving a $1,293 charge by about $51.72 to roughly $1,345; council members noted the document rounds to the next dollar. The transcript does not tie that numeric example to a named speaker and it is therefore reported without a direct attribution.

Several callers in the public portion raised related procedural and access concerns. Deborah Hannibal said the meeting was not available on YouTube and asked how people could follow the discussion; the clerk and council members explained the meeting was streaming on local access channels while YouTube experienced an external streaming delay. A second caller asked whether the sewer item had been properly advertised; the caller requested a formal response from the city’s corporation counsel. The transcript records the question but does not include a legal response on the record.

The ordinance references Paterson Code §407-18; the administration presented the measure as an inflation adjustment to sewer use charges. The council’s roll call recorded five yes votes and one no; the ordinance passed and will be implemented as described by the CFO for the August and November billing periods.

Next steps: the ordinance passed on June 23 and staff will proceed with billing updates; council members asked that affected documents and notices be circulated to the governing body and uploaded to the city website after technical streaming issues are resolved.