Senator Joe Pennacchio, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, will ask Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) acting-Commissioner Mark Mauriello to testify on the status of the Livable Communities Grant program on Monday during a budget committee hearing at the State House.
“I intend to ask the acting-commissioner to update the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on the status of the now defunct ‘Livable Communities Grant’ program on Monday. These grants, awarded in Fiscal Year 2005, were disbursed on a purely political basis. They should have been awarded based on which projects were most critical to improving our state’s environment.
“As was common at the time, no standards or criteria were in place to determine which applicants would receive state assistance. Instead, the entire process was politicized by the McGreevey Administration to ensure that grants were bestowed on municipalities that were most favored by top leaders in the majority party.
“In fact, then DEP Commissioner Campbell testified that he would give ‘weight’ to projects supported by legislators. This testimony clearly indicates that political considerations outweighed merit in determining which projects would receive funding
“Last year, an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request revealed that slightly over $1 million in unexpended funds remained in the program. I believe, especially in the difficult economic times, that every effort should be made to recover this money and apply it to more productive uses.
“I hope that acting-Commissioner Mauriello can resolve the issues that still plague the state because of this now-defunct program. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that political considerations do not outweigh the needs of the state.”
A letter from Senator Pennacchio to Commissioner Mauriello follows:
April 17, 2009
Mark Mauriello
Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection
401 East State Street
P.O. Box 402
Trenton, New Jersey 08625
Dear Commissioner Mauriello:
I am writing to request that at Monday’s meeting of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee you provide an update with respect to the your Department’s efforts to recover money from the $10 million FY 2005 “Livable Communities” Program.
The grant program was one of several under a different administration where departments, in conjunction with the Governor’s Office, manipulated awards based on politics. With respect to the Livable Communities Program, every municipality in the State was encouraged to apply for funds. Many spent time and money on applications believing they would be judged fairly. However, a scheme was created to circumvent true competition. Spreadsheets showing applicants were prepared by departmental staff and sent to favored legislators who were allocated a pot of money. Legislators were permitted to award grants to towns within their districts. Municipalities — even poor communities with desperate recreational needs — were denied grants in almost all districts with Republican legislative representation and even a few with Democratic representation.
Last month, your Department provided me with the attached list of 12 delinquent grants funded from the 2005 Livable Communities Program. It showed that your department is now doing the right thing and finally bringing this program to a close, but I want to make sure that no more extensions are being given to spend grants that were borne of a clearly inappropriate process and I want to be certain we are doing all we can to regain whatever funding we can for our state budget.
Respectfully,
Joe Pennacchio
Senator, 26th District
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