TOMS RIVER - One month after Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, Ocean County Freeholder Gerry P. Little said the island needed to do more to help itself and wrongly asserted that its government is not part of the United States.

Echoing earlier statements made by President Donald Trump this month, Little made the comments Wednesday in response to a Lakewood resident who had come before the Board of Freeholders to ask the county government to promote relief efforts underway in the U.S. territory.

“It’s an American possession, an American territory and Puerto Ricans are American citizens. However, the government is not part of the United States, it’s a separate government,” Little said. “And the problem with Puerto Rico is … for the last couple of decades, they have spent billions and billions and billions of dollars more than they take in for their taxes. Puerto Rico was bankrupt before the hurricane.”

Puerto Rico's government is subject to to the U.S. Constitution and federal laws. Trump caused a furor after the disaster, tweeting that Puerto Rico's leaders "want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort."

He also tweeted, while most parts of Puerto Rico remained without electricity or clean water, that the island would have to shoulder more responsibility for recovery efforts, saying the federal government's emergency responders can't stay there "forever."

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Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari suggested that Ocean County was in no position to help. He said it had suffered through superstorm Sandy five years ago this month and remained focused on getting its “10,000 families” back into their homes.

“Right here (it’s) that I think we have a first responsibility,” Vicari said. “It’s not that we’re neglecting them, it’s not that we don’t care.”

Vicari credited Ocean County's own recovery from Sandy to “the spirit of the people of Ocean County” who got together after the Oct. 29, 2012 disaster “and said, you know something, we’re going to help our own.”

Over the past five years, Ocean County government has received a total of $21.2 million in essential services grants. The federal disaster funds were intended to help local governments balance their budgets after Sandy without laying off police, public works staff or others who are “essential” to the county's operation.

Most recently, the freeholder board received $9.2 million for fiscal year 2016, according to federal records.

“But there are still people hurting now, five years later and we’re coming back gradually. … We have hard working people in Ocean County – middle class people – their main concern is to put food on the table and pay their mortgage. One out of four people in Ocean County are senior citizens,” Vicari said.

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“They don’t have the resources to begin their own reconstruction,” Little said. “That’s why the president has referred to this, that Puerto Rico has to do more for itself. They have to become more responsible to get themselves back on track instead of calling on the United States and Congress to bail them out.”

MaryAnn Sorensen Allacci, 61, of Lakewood, had come before the board during its public comment period.

Allacci said about 10 percent of Ocean County’s current population is Hispanic or Latino, and about 17,000 were of Puerto Rican heritage.

“What I would ask the county freeholders to do is to consider making this issue more visible and appealing to our residents and businesses for more support for this help,” she said.

Specifically, Allaci asked the board to use its websites and social media to raise awareness about the need for more disaster relief in Puerto Rico. The resident, who has a doctorate degree in philosophy, received the lecture from the freeholders instead.

Vicari said the board would consider her request at an agenda meeting.

“We all have empathy for the Puerto Rican people, who are fellow Americans,” Little said. “But again, this all comes down to a question of tax dollars. The federal government does not make money out of thin air, they borrow it.”

Vicari then warned school children who were in the audience for a class assignment on local government that each of them owed $87,000 – their individual share of the national debt.

“So please get a good education so you can pay off the $87,000; pay my Social Security, pay my Medicare, I think it’s very important to us,” Vicari said. “The more you make, the better you make the country stronger.”

Little, who keeps a laptop computer on the dais during meetings to keep track of the nation’s debt, informed Vicari that each American’s share had reached $165,780 as of Wednesday.

Contributing: Russ Zimmer.

Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359 or elarsen@gannettnj.com