Every municipal authority is hereby authorized to charge and collect rents, rates, fees or other charges (in this act sometimes referred to as "sewerage service charges") for direct or indirect connection with, or the use or services of, the sewerage system. Such sewerage service charges may be charged to and collected from any person contracting for such connection or use or services or from the owner or occupant, or both of them, of any real property which directly or indirectly is or has been connected with the sewerage system or from or on which originates or has originated sewage or other wastes which directly or indirectly have entered or may enter the sewerage system, and the owner of any such real property shall be liable for and shall pay such sewerage service charges to the municipal authority at the time when and place where such sewerage service charges are due and payable. Such rents, rates, fees and charges, being in the nature of use or service charges, shall as nearly as the municipal authority shall deem practicable and equitable be uniform throughout the district for the same type, class and amount of use or service of the sewerage system, except as permitted by section 1 of P.L. 1992, c.215 (C.40:14B-22.2), and may be based or computed either on the consumption of water on or in connection with the real property, making due allowance for commercial use of water, or on the number and kind of water outlets on or in connection with the real property, or on the number and kind of plumbing or sewerage fixtures or facilities on or in connection with the real property, or on the number of persons residing or working on or otherwise connected or identified with the real property, or on the capacity of the improvements on or connected with the real property, or on any other factors determining the type, class and amount of use or service of the sewerage system, or on any combination of any such factors, and may give weight to the characteristics of the sewage and other wastes and any other special matter affecting the cost of treatment and disposal of the same, including chlorine demand, biochemical oxygen demand, concentration of solids and chemical composition, and, as to service outside the district, the cost of installation of necessary physical properties.
In addition to any such sewerage service charges, a separate charge in the nature of a connection fee or tapping fee, in respect of each connection of any property with the sewerage system, may be imposed upon the owner or occupant of the property so connected. Such connection charges shall be uniform within each class of users, except as provided by section 5 of P.L. 2005, c. 29(C.40:14B-22.3) and except as provided by section 5 of P.L. 2005, c. 173(C.44:14B-22.4), and the amount thereof shall not exceed the actual cost of the physical connection, if made by the authority, plus an amount computed in the following manner to represent a fair payment towards the cost of the system:
The connection fee shall be recomputed at the end of each fiscal year of the authority, after a public hearing is held in the manner prescribed in section 23 of P.L. 1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-23). The revised connection fee may be imposed upon those who subsequently connect in that fiscal year to the system.
The combination of such connection fee or tapping fee and the aforesaid sewerage service charges shall meet the requirements of section 23.
N.J.S. § 40:14B-22