Fire Hydrants - Monthly Costs - NJ

Clarification: the fee is 233 for each of 7 hydrants ($1631/month).

That's the first I've heard of associations being charged for hydrants, I wonder of that's a regional thing? My HOA was gated with private roads, and we were not charged for hydrants. We did have county water service for irrigation (as did all of the homes) and averaged about $30/month for irrigation water, but no fee for our three hydrants.

Does the water company also provide service to the houses in your community, or just the hydrants?

In my area, fire hydrants in a HOA are considered community property so the developed have paid to put them in. The water is covered by the water bill.

Have you asked your water company how these fees are levied - you could have saved yourself some time. You sound a little skeptical when you said the fee is supposed to help maintain water pressure in case of a fire, but you do realize we're not talking about watering your lawn or filling a kiddie swimming pool, don't you?

A few years ago there was an article in our newspaper about the water access problem in some of the rural areas which made it very difficult to fight fires. Neighboring fire departments had to bring in trucks filled with water on one instance during winter and a restaurant burned down because of the delay. I don't know if you're in a rural area, but you might want to ask about this too.