Sandy Cleanup Costs in Little Silver Hit $2.4 Million

Cleaning up after Sandy's quick and messy visit to the borough in October is costing Little Silver more than officials originally planned.

The borough council amended a resolution passed in November that appropriated $1.7 million for cleanup costs to $2.4 million at its Dec. 17 meeting.

According to Laura Geraghty, Little Silver's chief financial officer, the bulk of cleanup costs were for the removal of vegetative and household debris and overtime for police and public works staff.

The borough hired AshBritt Environmental, a Florida-based, national rapid-response disaster recovery and special environmental services contractor, for both vegetative and debris removal, according to Geraghty.

Little Silver was among four municipalities awarded funding in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) first round of reimbursements to towns recovering from Sandy. However, Geraghty said that the borough had yet to receive any of the $1.67 million pledged from FEMA and added that borough officials would continue to seek reimbursement for cleaning up after the storm.

"We are moving very quickly to get maximum FEMA reimbursement," Mayor Robert C. Neff, Jr. said in an e-mail.