Recovery funds uncertain
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 20, 2017 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Commissioner Bill Pate listens during the Wayne County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning.
Tim Harrington says he still doesn't know which way to hop as he struggles to rebuild from the devastating flooding of last October's Hurricane Matthew.
Harrington's predicament isn't unusual, Wayne County Manager George Wood told Wayne County commissioners during their Tuesday morning session.
He is a perfect example of the problem -- residents don't know what to do about home repairs because they do not know if they are going to get the buyout or not, Wood said
That uncertainty took a turn for the worse last Thursday with the announcement that the federal Disaster Relief Fund is running low on money prompting a funding freeze.
Clarity is needed on what the federal government is going to do for the state, Wood said.
Is the money going to be forthcoming, and if so, how quickly because North Carolina residents like Harrington are being put in a Catch-22, Wood said.
"It has been 10 months, and it sounds like it is going to be another year," Harrington told commissioners during their Sept. 5 session. "I don't know if I should go ahead and start taking care of the floors and stuff like that. It don't look like I am going to be elevated.
"I don't know anymore about which way I should go or what I should do now than when I walked in here. I guess that is typical of government."
But while the funding's future remains unclear, commissioners Tuesday agreed to apply for nearly $9 million in federal Hazard Mitigation Grant funding to purchase up to 88 houses damaged as the result of Hurricane Matthew.
The Hazard Mitigation money comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency which is doing the buyout and housing elevation programs.
"As soon as they release it (funding), we need to have this paperwork in Raleigh, approved by them, so when they release it ($9 million) we are in line to get the money," Wood said.
The state has told counties to go ahead and file the paperwork despite the funding freeze, he said.
Commissioners also agreed with Wood's recommendation that a committee be formed to meet with state and possibly congressional leaders about securing the needed disaster funding for North Carolina residents.
"I am getting concerned," Wood said. "I think we have seen recently that FEMA has temporally frozen funds until they get a handle on everything. We all know we have had two large hurricanes hit Texas and now Florida, and of course, our needs are a year old. The hurricane (Matthew) was Oct. 8 of last year so we are coming on one year."
North Carolina is $200 million short from FEMA in having the money to do all of the statewide buyouts, Wood said.
Wayne County is $26 million short of what it needs, he said.
Wayne County applied for $35 million through the Hurricane Matthew Hazard Mitigation Grant program. It received $9 million -- leaving a $26 million deficit.
The $35 million was for 331 applications that included 24 for elevation, none of which were accepted, and 307 for acquisition of which only 85 were accepted by the state.
Once purchased, the sites will be cleared of any structures and thereafter maintained as permanently protected open space.
"The concern that we have is are we going to be able to get that money from FEMA going forward because of these other two deadly hurricanes which the federal government is now dealing with," Wood said. "Basically the fund right now is out of money.
"What I would like to purpose is that we have a committee appointed by the chair to meet with Rep. (John) Bell and Sen. (Louis) Pate just to discuss where to go from here. I'd like to get their thoughts on it -- about where we go from here. What is the prospect of getting the money from FEMA?"
Chairman Bill Pate agreed.
The funding freeze is temporary, Wood said in response to questions from Commissioner Joe Daughtery.
"Basically what they have done, they have frozen it until Congress can make an appropriation for FEMA," Wood said. "You have all read the paper, too. I think the president has asked for $8 billion or something like that. But that is primarily for Texas and Florida. What I am concerned about is we have not taken care of the storm from a year ago and that's us."
"So the $8 billion to $9 billion they just approved is basically for Florida and Texas?" Daughtery said.
The amount is just for Texas, County Attorney Borden Parker said.
"How much longer is this going to keep going on?" Wood said. "I just think that we need to have this discussion and be realistic about it. How much longer is it going to take?
"I think the way to start that is to start with our state delegation. Obviously, they are in contact with the congressional people. We may broaden the discussion to have them in it, too. We need to get some answers for our citizens about what are we going to do."
The county needs some answers about where it is going from here and what does it ultimately mean for citizens in each of these counties as to the timing of these buyouts, Wood said.
The question is where will the $200 million that North Carolina needs to do the buyouts come from, Wood said.
If the funding is not forthcoming, then all it is doing is prolonging the problem because if the properties are not bought out, then the houses are going to flood again, he said.
"Seventeen years ago we had (Hurricane) Floyd, and some of these folks didn't apply for the buyout or didn't take the buyout, and now here we go again," Wood said. "We have flooding again."
The long-term solution is to provide money to buy out homes and get residents put of flood-prone areas, he said.
Charity begins at home, Commissioner Wayne Aycock said.
The U.S. spends trillions of dollars on foreign aid very year, he said.
Aycock said he is not against the aid, but that the country needs to look after its own first.