WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Woodbridge Township bowed to pressure from the state's banking industry and threw out its ban on ATM fees on Sept. 20, according to the Star-Ledger newspaper.
Without discussion, the township council unanimously agreed to the move as part of a settlement with the New Jersey Bankers Association, which had sued the township after the ban was adopted in February.
The city of Newark, which followed Woodbridge in adopting a ban of its own, is expected to agree on Sept. 21 to settle a similar lawsuit and eliminate its ban on ATM fees, a lawyer for the bankers association said.
"Judges . . . have concluded this is not a permissible regulation by local authorities. The banks were successful as they thought they would be," attorney Dennis Casale told the Star-Ledger.
Woodbridge became the first community in New Jersey to prohibit banks from charging non-customers for using their ATMs. Banks that violated the measure could have been fined $1,000 for every ATM they operated in the township. There are 25 ATMs in Woodbridge.
Because of an injunction issued in U.S. District Court in Newark, the ordinance was never put into effect.
When the ordinance was adopted, Councilman Frank Pelzman said litigation "may be a very high cost, but we are voted into this position by the constituents." But Pelzman told the Star-Ledger that "based on what the attorneys tell us, in this case, it (settling) was the right move" after the council moved to drop the ban.
The resolution cited a July ruling in California, in which a federal judge said municipalities cannot get involved with ATM fees because bank fees are governed by federal law.
"Now that there is case law, which did not exist at the time of the adoption of (the) ordinance, it is in the best interests of the township of Woodbridge to settle,' the resolution says.
