By: Edward Colimore
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Thu, Feb. 11, 2010
County and municipal officials in New Jersey today were counting the cost of two expensive, back-to-back snow storms so they can apply for federal emergency funding to replenish hammered snow removal budgets.
The accounting work went on even as exhausted public works and utility crews continued clearing streets, restoring power lines, and removing hundreds of trees that were toppled by high winds and heavy snow.
"This was not a normal snowfall and that's a case has got to be made,"said William Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. "We need additional federal assistance."
In response to last weekend's storm, Gov. Christie issued an emergency declaration for seven South Jersey counties, including Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Cape May, Salem, Cumberland and Atlantic counties.
"Now, the governor is waiting for information on the latest storm so he can evaluate the financial impact it had," Dressel said. "We're telling the municipalities to document the costs and send that information to the county offices of emergency management. From there, it goes to the state office of emergency management and the governor" who will decide whether to seek additional FEMA help.
While those decisions were being made, the cleanup continued across the region. In Cherry Hill, the township's Department of Public Works received more than 100 reports of downed trees and limbs blocking municipal roadways from Wednesday night into this afternoon.
As the number of calls grew, some workers had to be temporarily diverted from snow removal to tree removal. Some limbs came down on utility lines, knocking out power to a couple thousands residents.
By late this afternoon, the power was back on for all but a handful of Cherry Hill customers and the majority of roads had been treated and plowed, said township spokesman Dan Keashen.
The effort was expensive, though. Cherry Hill officials had put aside $400,000 in this fiscal year for salt, sand, labor and fuel costs. They spent $171,000 on the Dec. 19 storm that left a couple feet of snow, and another $32,000 on a lighter snow on Dec. 31.
The storm over the past weekend was estimated to cost about $200,000; the expense of the latest one has not been calculated. "I can say with certainty that we will be applying for money from FEMA," said Keashen.
In the city of Camden, the cost of the snow removal efforts also is still being determined, said Patrick Keating, the public works director who had 19 pieces of equipment clearing and salting the streets.
"We did pretty good with the resources we had to maintain the city," he said. "This was a difficult storm . . . but all emergency services operated the entire time."
Keating said the crews would work until midnight tonight and take a break until 7 a.m. Friday.
In Camden County, public works crews had cleared the last layer of packed snow from the roads - with a little help from the sun and salt. Some lane widths on multilane roads will be reduced for a while until more melting occurs, officials said.
The county's state of emergency was lifted today and all its offices will be open again tomorrow.
"Everyone did a great job in keeping the public safe through two challenging storms," said Freeholder Ian Leonard, liaison to the Public Works Department.
The county spent about $800,000 on the last two storms and will seek funding from FEMA, which pays about 75 percent of the costs. It has to pay overtime for the public works employees, mechanics, payroll clerks to compute the overtime, fuel, salt and maintenance for the vehicles.
"We've spent more than we normally would," said Joyce Gabriel, a county spokeswoman. "The storm have been record-setting, historic."
In Burlington County, most of the 4,000 residents who lost power yesterday had it restored today. Downed trees and wires were still being removed and no major roads were closed.
"We don't have the cost of these storms yet," said county spokeswoman Loretta O'Donnell, adding that the bill for the Dec. 19 storm was about $415,000 for salt, equipment and personnel.
In Gloucester County, Joe Chila, a freeholder and Woolwich mayor, said roads were clear today and workers are "catching their breath. We really did well," he said. "People can get out of their homes and go about their business."
If some of the expense of the storm can now be recouped from FEMA, "that will help every town," Chila said."This was something you couldn't predict with your budget."
This week, U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Camden, Burlington and Ocean) called on the governor to include Ocean County in his state of emergency declaration. "Our local communities are facing enormous bills as towns remove snow, repair roads and protect our beaches," he said.
