Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lee County staff warns FEMA thresholds rising; suggests creating local disaster fund
Summary
Lee County emergency management staff told commissioners that proposed federal changes will raise the per‑capita threshold needed for FEMA declarations and urged the county to start a local disaster fund (Fund 156) to cover smaller disasters and meet new federal eligibility levels.
Lee County emergency management staff warned the County Commission that proposed changes to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) thresholds will make federal disaster declarations rarer and urged the county to begin setting aside local disaster funds.
Miss Smith, a county staff member who presented the FEMA status update, told the commission: “don’t listen to the media because the media is something different every day.” She said the federal per‑capita indicator (PCI) used to judge whether counties qualify for a disaster declaration is proposed to increase for Lee County from $4.72 to $7.62, raising the local damage threshold to roughly $892,080 for the county to be eligible for public assistance under the proposed rule.
The change, Miss Smith said, would require more catastrophic local losses before FEMA considers a declaration. She described an expected federal cost‑share shift that would make declarations less automatic: some scenarios that previously received 90/10 federal/local splits could be reduced to 75/25. That makes the county’s ability to document in‑kind contributions (volunteer hours, equipment use) more important; Miss Smith noted Lee County agencies and volunteer fire departments have experience logging such contributions and cited a past FEMA reimbursement Lee County received in 2019 for thorough documentation.
Because smaller, local disasters may no longer meet the federal PCI, Miss Smith proposed that the commission explore funding Fund 156 — the county’s disaster fund — during upcoming budget cycles. She recommended the commission consider starting with a modest annual allocation (examples discussed by the group ranged from $5,000 to $10,000) and growing the fund over time to avoid tapping general reserves after future storms or other incidents.
Miss Smith said she will provide the commission with historical PCI figures dating back to 2004 and recommended a follow‑up meeting with county staff — including Holly, Anna Kate, and Justin — and two commissioners to discuss options for a county disaster fund and other preparedness measures.
The commission did not take formal action at the work session; Miss Smith framed the item as an informational briefing to prompt budgeting discussion and interagency coordination moving toward future meetings.
Miss Smith's presentation emphasized documentation and interagency coordination as key steps to improve Lee County’s posture for federal assistance, and she recommended commissioners consider small, recurring local budget allocations to reduce the county’s reliance on declarations that may become harder to obtain.
Looking ahead, staff said they will provide the commission with a year‑by‑year chart of the PCI and further details on documentation practices that resulted in prior FEMA reimbursements. That information will be used to shape any proposal to seed Fund 156 and to determine whether additional policy or operational changes are needed to ensure the county can both respond locally and preserve eligibility for federal aid when truly catastrophic events occur.
