Mahwah to Receive Bigger Sandy Payout

Mahwah is set to get more money than it originally anticipated from FEMA to help pay for clean-up costs from Hurricane Sandy, township officials announced last week.

At a council meeting, Mayor Bill Laforet said FEMA recently announced a policy switch that calls for it to reimburse towns for 90% of their Sandy-related clean-up costs. That’s up from the original 75%.

According to the NJ Office of Recovery and Rebuilding, that means Mahwah will now be eligible to receive $368,869, up over $61,000 from its original FEMA reimbursement amount.

"The increase in the amount we are receiving makes a big diffrence in the cost of our clean-up," Laforet said. "This will certainly help our community."

State and federal officials announced the percentage switch last week, which will make another $83.4 million available to towns across the state, NJ.com reported.

Laforet said they were unsure when Mahwah would get its newly-increased check from FEMA.

"Best guess is somewhere in next few months," he said.