Point Beach Never Paid AshBritt Overcharges

AshBritt Inc., the company that won a state, no-bid contract for Superstorm Sandy debris removal, did indeed overcharge Point Beach, but the town never paid the overcharges, said Point Beach Business Administrator Christine Riehl at Tuesday night's Borough Council meeting.

AshBritt, cited in a state Comptroller's report released Tuesday for sweeping overcharges to numerous municipalities, overcharged Point Beach by $12,000 for mileage and $65,000 for removing what they claimed was "contaminated sand," Riehl said.

"They said it was contaminated sand, but it was not contaminated by the DEP standard," Riehl said. 

Riehl said that she never paid AshBritt, pending the outcome of the state Comptroller's investigation which had been ongoing for months and, ultimately, AshBritt issued credits to the town for the overcharges.

Regarding another problem with AshBritt, there had been a lot of discussion at post-Sandy meetings about how AshBritt had left the Silver Lake parking lot, on Arnold and Ocean avenues, in damaged condition after removing debris from the lot. Riehl and council members had agreed early this year to withhold payment until AshBritt covered the cost of the damage.

Initially, AshBritt offered a credit of only $5,000 to the town to get the lot repaired.

"But we settled for a $70,000 credit and hired a contractor who cleaned it up before March 1," Riehl said.

To read the Patch story about the comptroller's report, that has a hyperlink to the state press release and full report, click here.