The borough of Beach Haven has no problem with the federal government’s request to reallocate nearly $3.7 million in Superstorm Sandy aid originally awarded to the town for debris removal. In fact, Beach Haven asked to have the unneeded funds redirected.
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| Photo via APP Piles of sand from Superstom Sandy block a portion of Beach Avenue in Beach Haven. |
The audit also states that nearly $345,000 of $5.84 million in Public Assistance grant funds awarded to the town from the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, a Federal Emergency Management Agency grantee, for damages resulting from Sandy were either not supported by adequate documentation or not eligible under the program. The audit is questioning the eligibility of a total of $321,229 of unsupported costs, $17,227 of ineligible, unapplied credits from the sale of disaster-related scrap metal, as well as $5,863 of ineligible, duplicate costs. FEMA has been urged to disallow the funding unless the borough provides adequate supporting documentation for the costs, or additional documentation to show that the costs are eligible.
“They really didn’t have much by way of the big debris contract to audit because we never used that money, but an auditor always finds something,” said Crane. “They don’t disagree with the fact that the work was performed, that we were billed for that work and that we paid those bills. What they quibble with is that we did not demand the level of detail in terms of payroll records that they think we should have.”
Crane emphasized the fact that it is up to FEMA to make the final determinations. He said the audit is not expected to affect any of the town’s projects.
FEMA originally awarded the borough $4,858,359 to cover costs of debris removal activities. When the department audited the municipality between May and December 2013, borough officials said the authorized debris removal work had been completed and that it had incurred project costs totaling $1,170,293. Therefore, federal officials are urging FEMA to deobligate the $3,688,066 of unneeded funding and put it to better use.
The borough entered into a shared services agreement with Ocean County for debris removal activities shortly after FEMA approved the total amount of funding for the project. Under the agreement, Ocean County accepted full responsibility for debris-removal activities in the borough beginning Nov. 19, 2012, and claimed the costs to FEMA under a separate project worksheet. As a result, Beach Haven no longer needed the entire project funding FEMA initially approved.
“We never received the money. There’s no money to give back,” said Crane. “We were very fortunate that Ocean County allowed us to participate in this interlocal agreement. Otherwise we would have had to have gone out and borrowed $4 million and paid interest on that $4 million, waiting for reimbursement for this project a year and a half later,” he explained.
In late December 2012, the state advanced $1,821,885 to the borough under immediate needs funding criteria to cover the estimated costs of debris removal. At the time of the audit, the borough had completed all project work and had incurred costs totaling $1,170,293, or $651,592 less than the amount advanced. The overpayment transpired because the municipality’s final project costs were less than the cash payment the state advanced for project costs. The audit suggests the state should recover the $651,592 of excess funds advanced under the project.
The debris removal project is just one of 34 projects the town is juggling in association with the storm.
“We borrowed a tremendous amount of money, and we’re hopeful that somewhere down the line, it may take two, three, four years, we’ll realize some of the money back,” said Crane. “Unfortunately we had no choice. We had to clear the streets. We had to rebuild our town.”
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