FEMA: North Hempstead can keep $10M in Sandy recovery funds

North Hempstead Town will not have to return $10 million in superstorm Sandy recovery funds that were questioned by federal audits.

A September audit by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security investigated $36.6 million in recovery funds. The report recommended that $9.9 million should be reclaimed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

The Office of the Inspector General and FEMA have now both determined that the funds no longer have to be returned, said FEMA spokesman Don Caetano.

About a dozen federal audits of FEMA funds are still being conducted in the areas affected by the 2012 storm, a list that includes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, according to the Homeland Security website.