N.J. Admin. Code § 7:1F-1.9

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024
Section 7:1F-1.9 - Fees
(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.

(d) The fee(s) charged for underground storage cavern permitting shall not exceed the maximum amounts listed below for State fiscal year 2022. For each State fiscal year after State fiscal year 2022, the maximum fee(s) shall be adjusted pursuant to (i) below.
1. Administrative review and processing of application and supporting documents for construction approval, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-4.2(c): $ 16,500.
2. Technical review and processing of application and supporting documents for construction approval, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-4.2(d): $ 98,600.
3. Administrative review and processing of documents submitted for a permit to operate the underground storage cavern, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-4.2(i): $ 16,500.
4. Technical review and processing of documents submitted for a permit to operate the underground storage cavern, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-4.2(j): $ 49,300.
5. Permit renewal submitted, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-4.6(b):
i. Administrative review and processing of the application and supporting documents: $ 16,500.
ii. Technical review and processing of the application and supporting documents: $ 49,300.
6. Minor modification approval:
i. Administrative review and processing of the application and supporting documents, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-5.1(c): $ 16,500.
ii. Technical review and processing of the application and supporting documents, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-5.1(d): $ 49,300.
7. Major modification approval:
i. Administrative review and processing of the application and supporting documents, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-5.2(b): $ 16,500.
ii. Technical review and processing of the application and supporting documents, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-5.2(c): $ 98,600.
8. Technical review and processing of the application and supporting documents of a dormancy plan approval, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-5.3(b): $ 16,500.
(e) For a cavern system not regulated by the Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act Program, N.J.A.C. 7:31, the owner and operator shall be assessed fees as provided at (f) below for inspections, compliance reviews, review of quarterly monitoring reports pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-3.3, and review of dormancy plans, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1F-5.3.
(f) The Department shall calculate fees, as follows:
1. Calculate task hours by determining the number of hours (determined from time coding or workload analysis) required of direct program staff.
2. Multiply the hourly rate derived at (c)1 above by the task hours calculated at (f)1 above.
(g) Fees will be calculated during the review process and assessed per activity. A fee shall not be prorated or refunded. The Department will bill the applicant prior to issuing the written determination to the cavern owner and operator on the outcome of the review activity. Payment will be required within 30 days of the billing date.
(h) Confidentiality claims substantiation. Any person submitting information to the Department and asserting a confidentiality claim, in accordance with the procedures set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:1F-8 shall pay a fee of $ 750.00.
1. The confidentiality claim substantiation fee shall be adjusted by the Consumer Price Index for each year after 2022. The Consumer Price Index used to adjust the confidentiality claim substantiation fee shall be the Annual Average Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the U.S. City Average, 1982-84=100, not seasonally adjusted, as published annually by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/). The adjusted confidentiality claim substantiation fee shall be calculated by multiplying $ 750.00 by the CPI-U for the year of the confidentiality claim substantiation submission divided by the CPI-U for the year 2022.
2. If the CPI-U for the year of the confidentiality claim substantiation submission percentage change is less than the CPI-U for 2022, the fee shall remain unchanged.
3. The fee shall be rounded down to the nearest dollar.
(i) The monetary amounts established at (c) and (d) above shall be adjusted annually using current values for average annual salary, average fringe benefits, indirect costs, and average operational expenses. The adjusted fees shall be reflected through a notice of administrative change, published in the New Jersey Register.
(j) The Department may refrain from commencing work on reviews of underground storage cavern permits or approvals until it receives full payment of any outstanding fee(s) for prior review(s). If the Department has commenced work on a subsequent review, the Department may suspend such work until it receives full payment of the outstanding fee(s).
(k) Any fee under this subchapter that is subject to N.J.A.C. 7:1L shall be payable in installments, in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:1L.

N.J. Admin. Code § 7:1F-1.9

Adopted by 55 N.J.R. 905(a), effective 5/1/2023