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09.13.15

VOLUME 136

NUMBER 219

SINCE 1879

@ISSUE 1AABUSINESS 6AACLASSIFIED 1DLOCAL 3ALOTTERIES 2A

OBITUARIES 16AOPINION 4AASPORTS 1CSUNDAY BEST 1EWEATHER 18C

Almost three years after superstorm Sandy devastated parts of the Jer-

sey Shore, a new threat looms over towns that suffered severe dam-

age: the loss of millions of dollars in grants used to help stricken com-

munities pay for basic services. The money flowed into towns and

school districts over the past three years through the states Essential

Services Grant program, funded by the federal government. The program has served as a

fiscal bridge for communities whose property tax bases were diminished by Sandy, in

some cases by hundreds of millions of dollars. Now the money is disappearing, leaving

some municipal and school officials with tough choices: should they raise taxes, cut sala-

ries or eliminate positions?

A total of $44.6 million this year will be sent tolocal governments still trying to steady them-selves from Sandy. These 15 towns and school dis-tricts, according to applications provided to theAsbury Park Press under a public records re-quest, were desperate for help paying salaries fornearly 1,700 public employees, mostly cops andteachers.

But the grant program, funded through federalCommunity Development Block Grant funds, wasnever intended to last more than three years.

Recovery from Sandy is taking much longer,leaving town officials in a bind.

Millions of dollars in grant money that helped towns,school districts pay for basic services is running out

JEAN MIKLE @JEANMIKLE AND RUSS ZIMMER @RUSSZIMMER

See SANDY, Page 4A

The grant program was never

intended to last more than three

years. Recovery from Sandy is

taking much longer, leaving town

officials in a bind.

TOMS RIVER A contractor workingfor Ocean County government claimedunder oath that Freeholder Joseph H.Vicari extorted him in the 1990s and2000s and that he has been cooperatingwith a long-running FBI investigationinto the freeholders conduct. At onepoint, the freeholder even threatenedto kill him, the contractor testified.

Anthony Sierchio, who has done irri-gation and well work for the countygovernment since 1991, testified in acivil suit deposition that he installed anirrigation well at Vicaris Toms Riverhouse and, at Vicaris direction, also in-stalled wells and sprinkler systems atthe homes of Vicaris children, Dinaand Joseph, sometime between 2000and 2007. Sierchio said he was unpaidfor the work in nearly every instance.

On several occasions, the contrac-tor testified, Vicari wrote him a checkfor the work but then requested andreceived cash back from Sierchiofor the exact amount of the check.

Sierchio testified that the relation-ship soured after Operation Bid Rig, anFBI sting into public corruption in NewJersey in the mid-2000s, wherein doz-ens of public officials and others wereprosecuted for taking bribes.

Sierchio testified that when the cor-ruption case made headlines it mademe nervous, but in a way it made merealize like I was ---, Im being shakendown over the last 20 years, and its notjust being me its happening to.

Sierchio testified that Vicari be-came angry after the contractor sentVicari a bill in the late 2000s for someequipment Vicari had requested be in-stalled at his home. So I sent him hisbill, and I will never forget, he calledme up on his cell phone. He was ---mad, Sierchio testified.

Sierchio testified that he believedhis sending the invoice marked a piv-otal point in their relationship. Vicari,he testified, subsequently began inter-fering with contract work Sierchio wasbidding on. After Sierchio confronted

Vicarifacingextortionclaims

JEAN MIKLE @JEANMIKLEERIK LARSEN @ERIK_LARSEN

Ocean County freeholderdenies contractors charge

Sierchios deposition stems

from litigation Vicari

initiated in November

against his 2014 Democratic

challenger for freeholder.

Ocean County FreeholderJoseph H. Vicari

See VICARI, Page 6A

VACCINATION RATES AMONG OLDER AMERICANS ARE FALLING SHORT PAGE 1B

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