Hightstown Receives First Reimbursement of Hurricane Irene Expenses

Hightstown received the first check from their insurance company reimbursing in full $226,393.41 spent to help get the Borough’s water flowing after Hurricane Irene struck in late August, according to officials Thursday.

“That enabled us to get our water plant repaired and back online, and serving clean water to our residents,” said Borough Administrator Michael Theokas. “After so many months of promises of reimbursement, and handwringing, and negotiations and so on, we finally have a tangible result of the hard work that we’ve all put in for this. We really think it’s a sign of what’s to come.”

Following the storm, the Borough Council passed two $800,000 emergency appropriations, one in September and one in October. To date, the Borough has spent about $1.3 million of the $1.6 million in emergency funds.

Broken down by department, Theokas said about $500,000 has been spent on the police department. Expenses included replacing equipment, moving to a new building, getting police communications up and running and installing a 9-1-1 system.

About $250,000 was spent for the water department, and about $200,000 for the sewer plant. These costs were from getting the water working again and the Advanced Waste Water Treatment Plant fixed.

The Borough spent about $150,000 in the public works department, cleaning up after the storm and replacing equipment, and about $100,000 was spent for the fire department, fixing their infrastructure and replacing equipment.

The remaining $100,000 was spent for administrative and miscellaneous costs, such as moving Borough Hall to the Public Works building and replacing computers.

Going forward, Theokas said there will still be more costs, but stressed all purchases relating to the storm will be done in conjunction with FEMA and the insurance company.

Decisions still need to be made on the future of Borough Hall and the police department buildings, Theokas said.  All options will be presented to the insurance company and FEMA, and the council will have to decide what to do.

“Ultimately anything that is not paid for by insurance or FEMA, we’re going to have to pay that,” Theokas said.

But since it was an emergency situation, the state allows the Borough to bond the expenditures so it will not have to be paid back during one budget period, Theokas said, noting they do not anticipate costs to be included in the 2012 budget.

Theokas said by the end of March they should have a better picture of the future.

“I live in the Borough too. Taxpayers are fearful about what the impact is going to be, so we want to make sure they know things are moving and as we get progress we’ll let them know,” Theokas said.