newjerseynewsroom.com

Says 13 counties more than qualify for funding

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Gov. Chris Christie returned to New Jersey early Friday and in an effort to begin repairing his slush-soaked image, by late morning he signed a letter to President Obama seeking a major federal disaster declaration for the state.

The governor is asking the Federal Emergency Management Association for major funding to cover what he described as the extraordinary snow removal and other expenses rolled up by the state, county and local governments in responding to the blizzard that slammed much of the state Sunday and Monday.

"My pledge is to do all we can to help our municipalities and counties in the aftermath of the blizzard, to clean up and to ease the storm's financial impact," Christie said as he signed the letter in hard-hit Freehold. "I want New Jersey to be in the best possible position to receive disaster aid through prompt application to the federal government and FEMA.

Commenting on the public effort to respond to the storm while he was vacationing at Disney World in Orlando, Christie said, "In the face of such a ferocious and unusual winter storm, our Department of Transportation, State Police and other agencies mounted an effective response, maximized resources and worked tirelessly for days. The eastern municipalities and counties most impacted also did the best they could under very difficult circumstances. There are always concerns about how things could have gone better, but the fact is this was a rare and unanticipated force of nature that hit our state, and we owe our thanks to all those who worked tirelessly to get us through it."

Christie announced the distribution of more than $11.18 million in FEMA disaster aid from successful applications following major storms earlier this year. He said distribution of payments to municipalities and counties began Thursday and will continue through Monday.

Payment amounts to some of the hardest hit counties from those storms include, for example, $386,344 to Camden, $308,936 to Burlington, $291,612 to Gloucester, $284,561 to Atlantic, $278,638 to Cumberland, and $278,091 to Salem. Payments for amounts ranging from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars will go to dozens of other cities, towns and counties.

In his letter to Obama, Christie noted that storm conditions in 13 counties exceed the standards set to qualify for federal disaster assistance. The qualifying counties are Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset and Union.

New Jersey, through data being collected by the State Police Office of Emergency Management, will provide additional supporting information following the completion of a preliminary damage assessment pursuant to FEMA's Snow Assistance Policy.

The snowfall broke many of the historic records established and maintained by the National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center, as described in an attachment to the governor's letter.

"In light of these severe conditions, federal assistance is critical to properly and fairly mitigate the financial impact of this major snowstorm on State and local budgets, which are both currently under tremendous pressure due to severe economic conditions," Christie wrote.

The governor urged counties and municipalities to prepare damage and cost assessments as quickly as possible to move the aid application process along as expeditiously as possible.