The Stafford Township Water and Sewer Department is unwittingly at the center of a dispute over water meters in Ship Bottom. As the borough’s water utility, it is handling the installation of state-mandated water meters there.

“Stafford said they would only install 1-inch meters,” Robert Butkus, a councilman and chair of the water/sewer committee, said at the Jan. 28 council meeting. “The cost of 2-inch meters is double and they don’t want any part of working with anything bigger.”