Brick Hopes to Recoup Blizzard Costs

Brick officials will try to recoup the lion's share of the approximately $1.4 million spent on snow removal during the Dec. 26 blizzard.

On Feb. 4, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a federal disaster had been declared for 13 New Jersey counties, including Ocean. That decision means municipalities in those areas are eligible to receive reimbursement from the federal government for its storm cleanup operations.

The effort to recoup expenditures during the storm is being managed by the Ocean County Office of Emergency Management, according to township business administrator Scott Pezarras. Brick has already submitted initial documents to the county OEM office as well as directly to the federal government, Pezarras said.

"What we're going to be doing now is fine-tuning those numbers," he said.

The federal government, Pezarras said, requires particularly detailed documentation on snow removal efforts, beyond a simple accounting of how much money was expended on storm cleanup. The number of pieces of equipment used to remove snow must all be listed in detail, down to what types of vehicles were used and the horsepower of each vehicle.

"Now, we're going to be going through that cumbersome process," said Pezarras.

FEMA decides which rates at which to pay back to Brick and other communities for particular expenditures, so there is no telling exactly how much the township stands to recoup from the federal government. According to Pezarras, FEMA reimbursements often take about nine months to come through.

For budgetary purposes, the state Department of Community Affairs decided that storm cleanup costs for the Dec. 26 blizzard could be counted as an allowable overexpenditure for the 2010 budget year, even though most of the bills were paid after Jan. 1, said Pezarras.