DiNatale: More Ice Storm Aid Hopefully Coming (12/11/09)
Posted 2009-12-17 21:31:12
One year later, communities receive state reimbursement
BY KAREN MANN KMANN@FITCHBURGPRIDE.COM
Picking up downed trees was one of the focuses of clean-up during the Ice Storm of 2008. FILE PHOTO Picking up downed trees was one of the focuses of clean-up during the Ice Storm of 2008. FILE PHOTO While residents still try to recover from the emotional toll of one of the most devastating winter storms ever to hit the region, city and town officials are still trying to recover the financial toll the Ice Storm of 2008 had on their communities.
Local officials were forced to spend millions of dollars to get their communities up and running after the storm, which came blowing in exactly one year ago today.
“The sooner we get our money back, the sooner it will be back in the stabilization fund,” said Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella. He estimates the city spent $3.4 million on storm-related expenses.
State officials have offered to reimburse Massachusetts communities for some of the cost of the storm. Although it took a year, Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray came to Fitchburg earlier this week to announce that state officials were releasing $5.5 million, and communities would see a portion of that money as early as next week.
Legislators look at the release of money as a positive start.
“We have made a significant step forward,” said Murray. “We have continued to learn the cost of the storm.”
Fitchburg received approximately $270,000. According to Mayor Lisa Wong, she submitted a claim for about $300,000.
“Even though communication was scarce, we saw response from the state immediately,” said Wong.
Concrete numbers still need to be determined before those checks are sent, as communities continue to submit repair receipts.
Legislators hope to be able to release more money after drafting the Fiscal Year 2011 budget next year, but it could prove difficult.
“The statewide budget will continue to be challenging,” said Stephen DiNatale (D-Fitchburg).
“The state has always stepped up to assist,” said Mazzarella. “Since we did not receive any assistance during storm, I hope we could get reimbursed.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency offered to reimburse communities up to 75 percent of the costs they incurred during the storm.
Communities have received either the full amount, or a large portion of their reimbursement from FEMA. According to a press release from FEMA officials, “Municipalities, state agencies and eligible non-profit agencies in these counties have received $49,257,491 as the federal share of the recovery. Almost half of the federal funds, $23,756,229, were for debris cleanup and removal. More than $16 million ($16,700,947) funded emergency protective measures and $8,051,572 funded repair, replacement or restoration of public utilities.”
Fitchburg received $1.8 million from FEMA. Wong estimates the total cost of the storm of the city to be just below $2.5 million.
The total cost to the Town of Ashburnham from the storm was $370,000, which does not include the Ashburnham Municipal Light Department’s expenditures of $860,000.
Town administrator Doug Briggs said town officials have not yet decided how they will appropriate the money for the final cost to the town, because they are waiting until all of the reimbursements come in. Ashburnham has received 60 to 65 percent of the reimbursement from FEMA.
Town officials in Westminster are trying to figure out how to pay for the $417,000 bill the town will probably be left with after receiving its reimbursements.
At the Annual Town Meeting in May, residents approved taking the $300,000 from the stabilization account to pay for ice storm costs. Murphy said the decision on how to allocate the rest of the money will probably be decided at next year’s Annual Town Meeting, or with a special town meeting.
“The $300,000 taken from reserves brought it down quite a bit,” said Westminster Town Coordinator Karen Murphy.
According to Murphy, the town spent $1.9 million on storm related expenses, which was higher than the $1.4 million they had originally estimated.
“To date, we have received $1.1 million from NEMA. There is a pending reimbursement of $393,000,” said Murphy.
Murphy said the reimbursement process started out smooth, but has slowed down, which she believes is because the agency has gotten bogged down with so many claims.
While they wait for their money, town and city officials have also been working on ways to improve how they can better handle a storm like last year’s.
“Through every crisis, we learn some things,” said Mazzarella.
He believes the biggest thing for his city is having more volunteers who are trained ahead of time.
“We are trying to train employees of other businesses, so when we need them, we are not training them that morning,” said Mazzarella.
For Wong, reaching out to residents now to make sure they are prepared for an emergency, is a key focus. City officials will be distributing emergency business size cards in both English and Spanish to residents, which contain a list of emergency contact names and phone numbers.
“It is difficult with no TV and no radio, if newspapers are not getting to individual households,” said Wong. “We spent a lot of time just publicizing the numbers but we would like for people to have this business card in their wallet.”
Residents also learned a lot from the storm, according to Mazzarella, and now keep more food in their houses and have invested in generators.
“It was a training exercise for everyone. All and all, mother nature gave us a big wake up call and we responded,” said Mazzarella.
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