News

By Dan Moffett

    Dozens of residents packed Town Hall for an April 19 workshop on Manalapan’s proposed water utility deal with Boynton Beach, and now town commissioners say they’re working to answer questions and allay concerns raised in the meeting.
    “This is a work in progress and nothing has been decided,” said Mayor David Cheifetz. “We continue to process information.”
    By the end of May, commissioners expect to receive a report from a consultant hired to take another look at the numbers — in particular, the valuation of Manalapan’s system and the impact on residents’ water rates if Boynton takes over.
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the town has yet to receive a draft with the proposed terms of the sale from Boynton and also a draft of the interlocal agreement needed to close the deal.
    “One of the things we’re trying to avoid is the perfect storm of rate problems,” Cheifetz said during the April 26 town meeting.
    That exploding rate storm could strike if several hundred Manalapan utilities customers in Hypoluxo decide to get their water from somebody else and if the town has to go forward with roughly $5 million in repairs to its aging delivery pipes.
    A deal with Boynton, a growing system with more than 110,000 customers, has the potential to prevent all that, but not everyone on the commission is convinced.
    “If we sell it, we’re bound forever to somebody else’s wishes and their pricing structure,” said Commissioner Ronald Barsanti.
    Commissioner Simone Bonutti agreed, saying if Manalapan gives up being “the master of our own water,” the town will have less flexibility to adjust to droughts and use restrictions. “It will have a long-term effect on all of us,” she said.
    A preliminary analysis by Commissioner Clark Appleby found that about 85 percent of the town’s customers would pay lower bills if Boynton Beach buys the system. Should both the town and the city approve a deal, the takeover could happen before the end of the year.
    In other business:
    • Vice Mayor Peter Isaac reported that he expects construction on the south side of the Audubon Causeway bridge to be completed by the end of May and the weight restrictions on traffic lifted. Isaac said he remains hopeful the new bridge can be “substantially complete” by the end of July, with a couple months of “tidy-up” landscaping and cosmetic work to follow.
    • Commissioners decided to restore a $2,000 limit for landscaping renovation on town-owned property as the threshold for requiring approval from the Architectural Commission. In March 2015, commissioners reduced the limit to $300, a level they now believe is too low and an unnecessary hardship on staff.