DCA Failed To Have A Standard Application Process In Place For A Half Billion Dollars Of Grants Awarded To A Handful Of Towns Over A 6-Year Period. DCA Continues To Fail To Produce Any Documents Explaining Why Paterson Was Given $30 Million Increase In 2006 And Why Other Towns Received The Amounts They Were Given.
Senator Steven Oroho (R-Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon), a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, announced today that he will offer a Senate Resolution April 7 that would grant subpoena power to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to compel the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to deliver documents that explain why a handful of cities received more than half a billion dollars in grants connected to the Distressed Cities Program. Funding for the Distressed Cities Program has ballooned from under $40 million to over $150 million in only five years.
“I asked for documents that would explain the reasoning behind more than a half billion dollars of grants awarded to a handful of cities under a program that had no standard application. DCA has provided mountains of paper, but no documents explaining how award amounts were determined. The resolution I will offer is a tool for the Senate Budget Committee to require the DCA to deliver these documents, assuming they even exist.
“The selection process for grants and the determination of the amounts have been shrouded in secrecy. Two years ago, the city of Paterson received a $30 million increase that has never been explained. Someone, somewhere made that determination for a reason. The taxpayers deserve to know whether sound policy or politics has driven the expenditures of a program that continues even as funding for small towns are being gutted by Trenton.”
“This program is operating like a slush fund. The taxpayers of this state deserve an open and honest accounting of this program. I anticipate that every member of the budget committee will support my effort to shine the clear light of day on a program that is operating in the dark.”
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March 27, 2008 - Oroho Calls for Subpoena Power to Investigate Distressed Cities Program
March 31, 2008 - Haines, Addiego and Rudder Legislation Places Restrictions on Distressed Cities Aid
May 19, 2008 - Oroho Decries Democrats’ Refusal to Allow ‘Distressed Cities’ Investigation
April 7, 2008
