Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority

DumpPMUA.com was created by residents of Plainfield, NJ who were concerned about the accountability, transparency, customer service, and general practices of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority (PMUA) management and Board of Commissioners. Our issues are not with the hardworking rank and file employees. Although some concern about PMUA's practices existed prior to this grassroots movement, the movement began to take shape in February 2009 when 1st quarter PMUA bills were mailed to residents. We chose DumpPMUA.com because of its catchiness, and not necessarily to dismantle PMUA (unless management continues with non-competitive rates and deceptive practices). The purpose of DumpPMUA.com is to keep Plainfield residents informed of past and present practices of PMUA. The site will serve as a mechanism to effect positive change to PMUA and/or provide residents with information on more affordable, high quality service. We want to make sure that PMUA is held accountable to the residents they serve! We were extremely disappointed when PMUA increased its sewer rate 14% and solid waste rates 20% for 2009 without adequate public notice. We are currently challenging the legality of the public notice which was published in newspapers prior to the January 22, 2009 PMUA meeting. The public notice did not include the new proposed adjustments to the service charges which is required under state statute. To make matters worse, PMUA approved the increases and retroactively billed residents from January 1, 2009. A company the size of PMUA shouldn't be charging Plainfield residents of single-family homes $191.45 per quarter ($128.22 for solid waste & $63.23 for shared services). This is approximately $64 per month for solid waste (garbage and recycling collection or $42.74 per month excluding the shared services charge). Most residents are not even aware that they pay a shared services charge because it is masked in the solid waste line item on the PMUA bill.