Russ Zimmer

@RussZimmer

Was New Jersey "negligent" in how it handled a national competition with $1 billion in disaster funds up for grabs? Or did the federal government willfully disregard a strong commitment from the state in order to cripple New Jersey's chances?

Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development met separately with members of Gov. Chris Christie's administration and members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation on Friday to explain why New Jersey fared so poorly in the National Disaster Resilience Competition.

Reports from both meetings paint different pictures of where the blame should lie. Neither side has publicly released the documents at the center of the controversy.

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Last month, HUD announced that New Jersey would receive $15 million from the competition, a pittance compared to the $211.8 million awarded to New York City and New York state combined. Even Minot, N.D., took home five times as much as the Garden State from the $1 billion pool, which was originally part of the superstorm Sandy relief package before it was made available to local and state governments across America.

HUD Secretary Julian Castro told reporters at the time that New Jersey had submitted "a weaker application on several measures," including not identifying matching funds for the proposed projects.

MORE: NJ loses big to NY for Sandy money

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and a handful of other New Jersey congressional members, including Toms River Republican Tom MacArthur, met with three HUD officials, who said that New Jersey repeatedly ignored their warnings that the application they submitted would fall short, according to Pallone.

“(The Christie administration) didn’t come up with alternatives, they didn’t come up with a better guarantee for HUD… it just seems like they were very negligent in not responding to HUD’s various statements that this wasn’t going to cut it,” Pallone said Monday morning.

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Christie's office, however, says that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's application included $27 million from the state's Shore Protection Fund, a level of commitment that would have surpassed what other winners had promised.

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However, the feds ignored that leverage because the shore protection fund requires an annual appropriation from the Legislature. In other words, it wasn't ironclad enough for HUD, according to Christie spokeswoman Joelle Farrell.

"It’s clear that HUD’s arbitrary decision to give weight to this routine fact of state budgeting clearly and materially reduced the State’s award," Farrell said in a statement issued on Friday.

Meanwhile, HUD declined to release to the Asbury Park Press a document that would show how it scored New Jersey's application. The Christie administration did not immediately respond to requests from the Press to release whatever debriefing materials that HUD provided state officials before or during a separate meeting on Friday.

MORE: What's next with the Jersey Shore's Sandy recovery?

Here's what New Jersey was asking for:

1. Meadowlands berm expansion, water pumping and wetlands restoration project

Proposal: Expands berm from Hackensack to East Rutherford, installs pumping stations and takes steps to improve storm water management. The project would provide greater protection to the homes and infrastructure near the Hackensack River, which swelled out of its banks during Sandy and devastated communities like Little Ferry and Moonachie.

Money requested: $236 million

Action: Denied

2. NJ Transit satellite bus garage

Proposal: Build a new bus garage at the Meadowlands service area in order to reduce traffic congestion and improve public transportation.

Money requested: $75 million

Action: Denied

3. Best practices toolkit

Proposal: Develop a list of best practices that communities facing flooding issues can follow.

Money requested: $5 million

Action: Approved

4. Regional planning fund

Proposal: Use NDRC money to help communities pay for collaborative planning efforts.

Money requested: $10 million

Action: Approved

2,655 pothole claims; guess how many NJ paid?

Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com

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