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Committee reviews flood, FEMA and insurance reimbursements; seeks prioritized plan for repairs and grants
Summary
Committee members pressed staff for a clearer accounting of insurance and FEMA reimbursements tied to recent flood damage and urged priority planning for large infrastructure projects including water-system repairs and museum recovery.
Members of the finance committee reviewed status updates on flood-related insurance proceeds, FEMA reimbursements and several pending grant opportunities and urged staff to prepare a prioritized plan for repairs and grant applications.
Staff reported that insurance proceeds had been used for public-safety priorities (for example, replacement of fire trucks) and that FEMA reimbursements were beginning to flow. The committee discussed the sequence: local entities first expend funds for emergency repairs, then submit documentation on a reimbursable basis; federal funds flow to New Mexico as fiscal agent and are then reconciled before release. Committee members asked for a spreadsheet showing damage estimates, insurance proceeds received, FEMA reimbursements received to date, and encumbered purchase orders for flood-related work.
Council and staff discussed a forthcoming $10 million grant application to the state Water Trust Board for infrastructure repairs and mentioned the administrative use of SB 31 revolving loan funds to bridge timing gaps in reimbursements. Members also discussed prioritizing repairs to the museum, civic center, airport infrastructure and aging water mains (cited as a substantial multi-year need). Staff said FEMA reimbursements had recently begun arriving in the amount of approximately $300,000 (reported in committee discussion) and that larger federal flows were expected as inspections and reconciliations complete.
No formal action was taken beyond directing staff to produce a clear spreadsheet of flood-related expenditures, insurance receipts and FEMA reimbursements and to prepare prioritized grant and project lists for committee review.
