TOMS RIVER – The township of Toms River, New Jersey, is advancing an ordinance requiring utility companies to properly repave roads they dig up, particularly if the roads have been recently paved. Mayor Dan Rodrick highlighted the importance of the ordinance in a recent town council meeting, stressing that the frequent and often poorly executed road repairs by utility companies have become a burden on the town’s infrastructure and budget.
It’s also putting unnecessary wear and tear on the cars that residents drive each day along those uneven, bumpy, and poorly paved roads.
“We go out, and we pave a road like what we did in Gardens of Pleasant Plains,” Rodrick explained, “and six months later, a utility company comes along and puts holes throughout the entire road because of poor planning or maybe because they just don’t care.”
The ordinance, which is currently in its first reading, is designed to protect the quality of roads recently resurfaced by Toms River at taxpayer expense. Under the new policy, if a utility company needs to cut into a road that is less than five years old, it would be required to pay for a complete curb-to-curb repaving of the road, rather than simply patching the area they disturbed.
“What this ordinance does is it requires, if you cut open a road that is less than five years old, the utility company has to pay to fix it,” Rodrick stated. “And if you patch a road, you have to patch it by a certain distance curb-to-curb.”
The proposed ordinance also includes a street excavation moratorium, which limits how soon after a road has been paved, utility companies can dig into it. This measure is aimed at encouraging better coordination and planning between the township and utility companies. Rodrick hopes that utility companies will now take the township’s paving schedule into account before planning their own infrastructure updates, reducing the need to disrupt newly paved roads shortly after they have been completed. “The roads that we do pave, they [utility companies] will want to know about our paving plan in advance to plan for their infrastructure updates,” he noted.
Rodrick also addressed potential concerns about how this ordinance might affect utility rates, assuring residents that there would be no increase.
“One of the first things that someone might say is, ‘Well, what will that do to rates?’” Rodrick said. “The answer to that is absolutely nothing because rates are set regionally over many, many towns.” He added that other towns with “forward-thinking” policies have already implemented similar ordinances, while towns without such measures end up shouldering the cost of poorly repaired roads. “Towns like ours take it on the chin and have our roads ripped up and poorly repaired,” he said, emphasizing the need for Toms River to adopt policies that protect its infrastructure investments.
The mayor also highlighted the disparity between the revenue generated by the township through municipal taxes and the profits utility companies make. He explained that Toms River’s average municipal tax revenue per household is around $125 a month, while residents typically pay much higher monthly fees for water, electricity, and gas. Despite bringing in “four to five times the amount of revenue that Toms River Township brings in as a municipality in taxes,” Rodrick argued, utility companies have often failed to maintain the roads they disrupt for their projects.
“This is a great idea,” said Councilman David Ciccozzi said to Mayor Rodrick. “Thank you. It’s a perfect example of what Mayor Rodrick is talking about.”
He referenced several newly paved roads and how they have become ‘disasters’ soon after.
Councilman James Quinlisk lodged a complaint, blaming COVID-19 for a bad paving project in town, but said, “It is a good idea.”
Councilwoman O’Tooley said Holiday City is full of sunken, ‘hot paved’ potholes, “you can sink your car in.”
The council voted unanimously.
The ordinance was drafted by the township engineer, John Mey, in collaboration with Toms River’s legal team, using similar policies from other municipalities as a model. “From now on, when our roads are ripped up, they are repaired properly,” Rodrick concluded, adding that “when they tear up a road that is new, that is totally and completely repaved.” The ordinance is expected to move forward with support from local officials who share the goal of preserving road quality and protecting taxpayer investments. By enforcing stricter repaving standards, Toms River aims to ensure that its road infrastructure remains intact and that recent improvements are not quickly compromised by uncoordinated utility work.