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The Village of Bronxville and the Bronxville School both accumulated high tabs as a result of Sandy. Between the preparations taken by the school, overtime hours of village employees and the hiring of contract tree removers, costs totaled more than $120,000, village officials said.
Village Administrator Harold Porr estimated that Sandy cost the village around $30,000.
"That figure is a result of various efforts both during and after the storm," Porr said. "One of the major factors bringing that number so high was the hours of overtime accumulated by the Police and Public Works departments. They were out there around the clock preparing for the storm before it hit, making sure everything was OK during the storm and cleaning up the village after the storm."
While no municipal properties were damaged, and none of the village's major institutions lost power, the village had to spend money on fuel for generators, maintenance and private contractors to remove fallen trees, Porr said.
The remaining $90,000 comes from the preparations taken by the Bronxville School before the storm, said Assistant Superintendent Dan Carlin. While the school spent a lot of money preparing for the storm, the preparation could have spared the school much greater damage costs.
The school covered windows, laid sandbags around its main entrances, ran suction pipes from its lower level to the street, relocated all items on the first floor to four rented storage containers and relocated cafeteria food to a rented freezer truck.
The school's ability to reopen when it did was the result of a lot of hard work and man-hours, said Bronxville Schools Superintendent David Quattrone.
"The school hired about 50 contracted workers the weekend before the storm to make sure it was prepared," Quattrone said. "The school didn't flood, didn't lose power and didn't suffer any major structural damage. All I can say is that we are very lucky."
Bronxville will seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Porr said he expects that at least 75 percent of the $30,000 will be reimbursed. The Bronxville School will also seek reimbursement with its insurance company, Carlin said.
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