We could have bought a lot of CCTV with the money.

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New Jersey towns fail to use homeland security grants
(Mon, Apr/30/2007)

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey municipalities have forfeited $2.78 million in homeland security grants for failing to use them, the state Attorney General's Office said.

In some cases grant money was available but unused for more than three years, even though some municipalities had asked for the money for specific needs, Gannett New Jersey reported for Monday's newspapers.

"There was a survey to assess where towns were, and could they document that they had spent dollars or intended to spend money," said David Wald, spokesman for Attorney General Stuart Rabner. "There were towns that could not show us this documentation, and they lost their grants."

Newark, the state's largest city, left $191,250 on the table , 70 percent of its grants. Edison left $170,000 on the table. Jersey City left $143,600 unspent, although it used $521,000 of its grants.

Since the program came without a deadline, officials in Edison said they were surprised by an April 2006 notice from the Attorney General's Office that gave them seven days to show they were using the grants. In other municipalities, officials said the purchases were hampered by administrative turnover, while some didn't know the grants were rescinded.


Article's URL:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/104-04302007-1338764.html