New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 1F - UNDERGROUND STORAGE CAVERNS › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 7:1F-1.9 - Fees

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Fees for underground storage cavern permits, compliance monitoring, modification, and decommissioning shall be paid to the Department by the owner or operator of an underground storage cavern, in accordance with this section.
(b) Fees shall be paid in U.S. dollars through the Department's online payment system or by certified check, check, or money order, payable to "Treasurer, State of New Jersey," and mailed along with the fee invoice on or before the indicated due date, to the following address:
Department of Treasury
Division of Revenue
PO Box 417 Trenton, NJ 08646-0417
(c) The Department shall charge a reasonable fee for services performed in connection with underground storage cavern permitting, compliance monitoring, modification, and decommissioning. The fee to be charged by the Department shall be based on actual hours worked, multiplied by an hourly rate of $ 140.00. For each State fiscal year after State fiscal year 2022, the hourly rate shall be adjusted pursuant to (i) below.
1. The Department shall compute the hourly rate as follows:
Hourly Rate = (AS+FB+IC+OE)/BH
Where:
AS = The average annual salary of the Direct Program staff assigned.
FB = The average fringe benefits for an employee calculated as a percentage of the average salary. The New Jersey Department of the Treasury sets the percentage annually, based on costs associated with pensions, health benefits, workers compensation, disability benefits, unused sick leave, and the employer's share of the Federal Income Compensation Act (FICA) contribution.
IC = The indirect costs, calculated at a rate negotiated annually between the Department and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Indirect costs are those costs incurred for a common or joint purpose, benefiting more than one objective and not readily assignable to the cost objective specifically benefited without effort disproportionate to the result achieved. Indirect costs consist of Department management salaries and operating expenses, divisional indirect salaries and related expenses (personnel, fiscal, and general support staff), building rent, and the Department allocation of indirect costs listed in the Statewide Allocation Plan prepared annually by the State Department of the Treasury. Indirect costs do not include the salaries for Department overhead staff or direct support personnel. To calculate the IC, the current negotiated rate is multiplied by the sum of AS and FB.
OE = The average operational expenses attributable to an employee. Operating expenses include costs incurred in connection with the program for such items as postage, telephone, training, travel, supplies, equipment maintenance, vehicle maintenance, and data system management (internal systems, such as the New Jersey Environmental Management System (NJEMS) and external mainframe applications through the Office of Information Technology).
BH = The billable hours, which is the average number of hours each direct program staff position spends annually performing activities for which fees are assessed. This number is determined by starting with the total number of days in the calendar year, 365. Then weekends and holidays are subtracted. This figure is further reduced by subtracting days for the average amount of used employee leave time (vacation, sick, and administrative leave days). Finally, the figure is adjusted by subtracting days for training and other non-billable staff time (such as medical surveillance, time sheet preparation, staff meetings, and other general functions). This results in 204 working days annually that can be allocated to specific objectives. 204 days multiplied by seven hours per workday equals 1,428 billable hours.