Clerical Error Kept Bergen from Snowstorm Disaster Aid, Officials Say
Congressmen Rothman, Pascrell call on FEMA to expand disaster declaration.
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A paperwork snafu prevented Bergen County from being included in Wednesday’s Presidential disaster declaration designed to give federal aid to areas hard hit by the October snowstorm, county officials confirmed.
In a letter to President Barack Obama last month, Gov. Chris Christie requested federal aid for eleven counties, including Bergen. The governor pointed to widespread power outages and storm-related deaths in the county. When the president’s declaration came, however, Bergen, Passaic and Middlesex were left out.
"It appears that a clerical error prevented the declaration for Bergen," said Jeanne Baratta, Chief of Staff to County Executive Kathleen Donovan.
According to regulations published in early October, FEMA has a threshold of $3.39 in damages that each resident of a county must incur in order for the county to qualify for federal disaster relief. For Bergen County, with a population of some 900,000, that would amount to approximately $3 million. County emergency management director Lt. Dwane Razzetti said a FEMA report put the cost of the storm at $5.6 million, well above the threshold; however, the state reported Bergen's damages much lower, at $1.2 million.
"We were pretty sure we were over the threshold," Razzetti said. He said he was "shocked" when he found out the numbers the state sent to the federal government did not match the figures from the FEMA report.
Officials could not pinpoint an exact breakdown in the process, but said they would push for a declaration.
“Right now they don't believe we have to appeal this because the error was clerical on the part of the NJ OEM [New Jersey Office of Emergency Management]," Baratta said.
Middlesex and Passaic missed out on the aid because they too did not meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “per-capita damage” cost threshold, state and federal officials said. Passaic reported $1.5 million in damages, according to Mary Goepfert, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Emergency Management. That would be less than the FEMA threshold of approximately $1.7 million for a county of 500,000 residents.
Goepfert said there was no clerical error, but the state was working with the three counties.
"We are going to evaluate their data and determine if additional documentation exists which would support an appeal and a Declaration," she said in a follow up e-mail Thursday.
Congressman Steve Rothman said it's not the first time Bergen and Passaic were left out by FEMA. Not too long ago the Fair Lawn congressman had to fight to get Bergen and Passaic qualified for federal money after Hurricane Irene, he said.
Rothman and Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-8) wrote to FEMA chief William Craig Fugate Thursday urging him to add the two North Jersey counties to the declaration.
“In Bergen County five people lost their lives to house fires and vehicle accidents directly related to this last storm. So I believe very strongly on the merits FEMA should now include Bergen and Passaic counties in its disaster declaration just as they added our two counties after their initial assessments after Hurricane Irene," Rothman said in an interview Thursday.
In the letter to Fugate, Rothman and Pascrell said they were “extremely concerned” that Bergen and Passaic were not included in the first declaration.
“Living in Bergen County and living less than a half mile from Passaic County, I can say the damage was severe,” Rothman said.
Updated 10 a.m. Friday with a follow up comment from the New Jersey OEM
RidgewoodGuy12
9:05 am on Friday, December 2, 2011
perhaps they can blame the error on Bret Schundler
DMAB6395
11:00 am on Friday, December 2, 2011
What is wrong with FEMA? Who is watching what they do? They had so many problems when Hurricane Katrina hit, then they had problems with other parts of the country when other Hurricane's hit, now they mess up not just one county but 3 counties. Maybe I'm going back to far into the school system but wasn't PROOFREADING your work taught back in the 1st grade? And who is going to be held accountable for this "oops"? Like usual the people that were affected the most are the ones that are paying for this "oops". Give a 1st grader the job of proofreading for them & the job might get done right the 1st time.
Billy Mays
11:15 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
Its pretty ridiculous. Its not as if someone handed them a life jacket and said "go save those people". It's their damn job and they fail miserably at it.
Fritzi
11:36 am on Friday, December 2, 2011
It's totally expected from our county, local and state governments. Who do they hire and why is their work not double-checked? Donna is right, proofreading would have caught the error. Double proofing would even be better in our world of poor education in our schools. Having taught for 32 years, I know where education is today. It's unfortunate that today's young workers are not prepared for work and that older workers have become complacent and depend on others to do their work.
Denise
2:34 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
Fritzi-You cannot generalize...SOME older workers are complacent, just like SOME
younger employees scare me these days.....
Avi Bloom
3:53 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
Clerical error ??? come on. If the duo Trawinski and Baratta had spend less time on personal vendettas against some Fairlawn residents, they may have found the time to complete the correct paperwork after we pay them over $ 140k a year.
truthhurts
5:09 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
The Donovan team is already pointing fingers saying that the state made a clerical error. This is how this bunch always operates. Point fingers, shift blame, make others look bad while trying to make themselves look good. I have not seen a statement from Passaic County, but right away Baratta says there was a clerical error by the state. But, Mary Goepfert, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Emergency Management says there was no clerical error.
I think the residents of Bergen and Passaic counties deserve to know what really happened, who dropped the ball and who should be held accountable. If there was a clerical or other error, it probably happened at the county level.
Fritzi
5:17 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
We certainly all deserve to know the truth but that never comes out in politics. It's always, "the other guy did it." Again, the buck will be passed. Where do they find these people? Oh, I know, political favors.
LivinLocal
10:45 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011
Just remember the people who vote, and those that don’t, elect the politicians. We get the government, and the results, we deserve. :-)
delgado
7:22 pm on Saturday, December 3, 2011
Clerical error!!!!! No way. The TeaParty corrupt bergen republicans didnt WANT THE FEMA money. This was pure 100% Bergen County Republican incompetence. All the insiders knew what happened, Gov. Chrisite detests the corrupt Bergen Republican crew and this was a message to them..... plus double dipper Trewinski and Barrataa were to budy counting there double dipping money.
Avi Bloom
7:50 pm on Saturday, December 3, 2011
Delgado, I must agree that Bergen County made two huge mistakes, unfortunately both of them come from our beloved Fairlawn and their names are Trawinski & Baratta.
FL4LIFE
11:32 am on Sunday, December 4, 2011
delgado- it's understandable they didnt have time to complete the proper paper work, they have a lot of the tax payer's $ in thier pockets they have to keep track of. not to mention the nice pensions those crooks have to keep adding to.
i would like to hear from all those trawinski /baratta fans out there on how good of a job these two crooks are doing.
Louise Passick
2:55 pm on Sunday, December 4, 2011
First education; now disaster aid. What next?
Joe Kayal
9:56 am on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
I guess Delgado doesn't know anything about the Tea Party, Oop, sorry, I know he doesn't! Although many politicians give us cause for negativity, it never helped anyone. Why not hold their feet, as of now the State Office, to the fire in insisting that the truth be revealed and who dropped the ball? Ms. Donavan must pressured the State for a complete answer and solution to the problem. By the way, the TP Republicans were in for 1 year and already cut $800,000 from the budget. Give them a chance, like Obama wants after being in office for 3 years. Hello !