NJ Town Council Approves Ordinance that Makes Property Owners Responsible for Service Fees

Posted on January 3, 2019
Author Jacque Ryan, WKVI

When North Judson Town Council members met in a special session at the end of December, they approved an ordinance establishing a policy that makes property owners responsible for the collection and payment of service fees at all of their properties.

This ordinance was constructed by Town Attorney Justin Schramm, at the request of Billing Clerk Jennifer Vanek.

Vanek came before the council with this suggestion during their first meeting in December, noting consistent problems with utility bills being in the name of individual renters. At that time, she noted that Winamac recently passed a similar ordinance after facing the same type of issues.

In addition to stating that property owners will now be responsible for collecting and paying utility service fees at all of their properties, North Judson’s ordinance gives owners six months to get the utilities switched over to their name. That means that by June 30th of 2019, all properties must be in the owner’s name.

Since the ordinance deals with fees, Clerk-Treasurer Andrew Rowe said it had to be published before it could go into effect. The notice was initially posted in the newspaper on December 28th and the ordinance will go into effect on January 27th.

Town officials noted that there is no charge associated with switching the fees over and that property owners can take care of that by contacting or visiting North Judson Town Hall, located at 310 Lane Street.

If you have any questions about the ordinance itself or the process of switching over the utilities call 574-896-3340.