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Flood control warns FEMA/BRIC changes could force rework of community IGA spending
Summary
Flood Control staff said recent and potential federal grant cuts (BRIC) force reexamination of how district levy IA grants to towns are structured; staff proposed studying a new IGA formula so the district can reserve more funds for county‑led projects if grants dry up.
The Yavapai County Flood Control District told supervisors it must reexamine its community intergovernmental agreement (IGA) program after what staff described as “a lot” of federal grant cuts this year, including a reduction in FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) funding.
Lynn Whitman, director of the flood control district, said many of the district’s recent capital projects were built around grant matches that require a local 25% share. “A lot of these grants are from the BRIC program, which is the program that was cut this year from FEMA,” Whitman said. Without grant revenue and with construction cost inflation, the district expects to have less matching capacity and may need to change how it distributes levy money to towns.
Whitman explained that the district currently gives roughly 40% of its levy to incorporated towns for local drainage projects and keeps about 10% for district‑led work. She and staff proposed opening a conversation with the towns to “maybe even that out a little bit more and bring some money back in for our own projects” so the district can continue grant‑leveraged construction if BRIC remains reduced.
Board members noted the potential ripple effects: municipal maintenance programs, library partnerships and other local services rely on this funding. Supervisors asked staff to include municipal representatives when exploring alternatives and to provide financial scenarios after the budget process.
Whitman also told the board the district has won many grants recently and is currently heavy on drainage studies, which increases near‑term planning demands but requires local matches. She asked for no immediate programmatic changes in the budget year but said she will prepare options for a later board conversation.
Why it matters: Flood districts commonly use federal grants plus local matches; sudden federal cuts force local reallocation of limited levy dollars and can reduce the number of construction projects completed.
