Debris Removal Firm a ‘Con Job’

“Even as the first round of federal relief money from Superstorm Sandy makes its way to the Garden State and Gov. Chris Christie restates his commitment to dune projects, s*&! is hitting the fan.

This time it’s at the expense of the state’s debris removal firm, which allegedly yielded an additional $500,000 from inflating mileage on hauling trips to an Ocean County landfill in the aftermath of Sandy. The Bergen Record reported AshBritt, Inc., debris – hauling rates increased by 30 percent after 16 miles. During its investigation, the Record found triple-digit occurrences where the higher rate was charged even though the distance traveled was less than 16 miles.

“We’ll look at it and if there was stuff that was done that was inappropriate, we’ll hold the people responsible,” Christie told the Bergen Record, adding it was too early to determine whether there was wrongdoing. If there was, he said, he’d seek to recover some of the money.”

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Scala, Gina. New Jersey News 2 May 2013.