By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
NJ Today
To the strains of Bruce Springsteen’s “We Take Care of Our Own,” Gov. Chris Christie made a grand entrance in Brick Township to announce a $100 million grant program to help people in flood prone areas elevate their homes.
“Homeowners can receive reimbursement of up to $30,000 for elevation on existing single family homes that are located in the 100-year flood plane in the nine counties most impacted by Sandy. And I don’t need to tell everybody here, you are one of those counties,” Christie said.
The event took place in the Baywood section of Brick, where block after block of homes sit on lagoons in the Metedeconk River system.
A few residents have already begun to elevate their homes.
The money for the program comes from FEMA and is slated to help nearly 3,000 homeowners statewide. That won’t help every eligible homeowner since Brick Township alone has 4,000 to 5,000 homes that should be elevated, according to its mayor.
“This is an important step in making us stronger than the storm. We know that another storm will come in the future. We hope a storm that’s not nearly as severe as Sandy, but we know one’s gonna come. And we need to be stronger than we were on Oct. 29, 2012,” said Christie. “Also this is gonna help you in terms of your flood insurance. You elevate, your rates will be lower. You don’t elevate, your rates will be higher. And here, we can’t give you a subsidy for your flood insurance, but we’re giving you a subsidy to elevate your home.”
It costs $30,000 to $75,000 to elevate a home, according to state officials.
Those with Increased Cost of Compliance, or ICC, coverage from the national flood insurance plan can get help there, as well.
“We knew somebody wasn’t gonna come in and give you a check for $100,000, but this $30,000 grant — your ICC money for $30,000, now you’ve got $60,000 with no income requirements. Now you’re in the game to possibly elevate, you can see that light at the end of the tunnel,” Brick Township Mayor Stephen Acropolis said.
On political matters, we asked the governor for his reaction to Barbara Buono’s statement on NJTV this weekend that if he doesn’t debate her it would call into question his courage as a leader.
“It would say that he’s a coward,” Buono previously said.
“I’m sure, Michael, that’s what a lot of people think about me in New Jersey. I’m sure that the word ‘coward’ is something that immediately pops up. Listen, I read about that. Fact of the matter is, Barbara Buono’s worst days of the campaign will be the days I debate her. I can assure you of that,” Christie said.
Election law requires the governor to debate her if he accepts public matching funds. He did not in the primary and said today he hasn’t decided yet whether he will or not in the general election.
Christie leaves tomorrow for fundraising in San Francisco, Pittsburgh and a Republican governors conference in Aspen. The following week he’s home for three days, then has a National Governors Association meeting in Milwaukee, and then will go on vacation Aug. 5 at the official summer residence at Island Beach State Park.
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