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City of Barrie urges codified buyout program in H.397, cites delays and limits of FEMA aid
Summary
City officials told the Government Operations Committee that frequent floods have driven demand for voluntary buyouts, but FEMA timelines and the permanence of federal buyouts limit municipal options; witnesses asked that H.397 create a standalone state buyout program and requested local funding tweaks and a river gauge for better warning.
City Manager Nicholas Strelikastro of the city of Barrie told the Senate Government Operations Committee on April 29 that repeated floods in 2023 and 2024 left the city with dozens of homeowners seeking voluntary buyouts and exposed limits in existing federal and state programs.
"We were hit hard not just in '23, but, again, on the anniversary date in '24," Strelikastro said, arguing that language in H.397 to create a standalone buyout program would give municipalities a clearer tool for hazard mitigation.
The city reported 60 applicants for buyouts; Strelikastro said the municipality had approved 27 of those and that FEMA had approved 21 of the proposals, but that the city had not yet closed any buyouts. He told lawmakers FEMA-funded buyouts are helpful but take years and are permanent land-use changes that remove parcels from the municipal tax base.
"Anytime we give up a parcel to a FEMA buyout, that is gone forever from property tax revenue, from development, from housing," Strelikastro said. He described the city's narrow use of FEMA buyouts to target clustered properties along the river where removing structures provides mitigation value to the community as a whole.
Strelikastro and Maggie Lenz, speaking for the city, said non‑FEMA buyouts are difficult because municipalities generally cannot offer the fair‑market value FEMA provides; towns would often have to pay to clear and prepare lots, which reduces the price they can offer homeowners. Lenz confirmed that one existing program for mitigation is in statute but that other related programs exist in session law and are therefore temporary.
The witnesses described other state and federal money streams. Strelikastro said the state set aside $3 million statewide for elevation money; Barrie received a $900,000 allocation that will fund elevation for three properties. He said those state elevation dollars help a small number of homeowners rebuild higher instead of seeking buyouts. Strelikastro gave a city estimate that the 27 approved buyouts could mean roughly $121,000 in lost property tax revenue for Barrie.
City officials also asked lawmakers to expand the local option tax pilot (LOT) share in H.397. Strelikastro said Barrie's 70% share last year produced $909,000 and that an additional 5 percentage points under the bill would yield about $65,000 more for the city, money they said would be used for capital projects such as culverts, sidewalks and paving.
On monitoring and warning, Barrie officials said the city lacks a stream gauge and currently relies on a painted marker on a wall; they asked for state help with a gauge installation. Strelikastro said a typical upfront cost is about $30,000 and that the city would budget for ongoing maintenance. State officials testifying elsewhere in the session noted the state contributes roughly $500,000 annually to maintain and operate existing stream‑gage networks and urged any new gauge be integrated into statewide systems so the data become publicly available and useful to forecasts.
State witnesses and committee members discussed program design choices: whether to codify a targeted buyout program in statute as H.397 proposes, or to continue to use broader resilience funds and session law authorizations that allow multiple mitigation activities (elevations, buyouts, floodplain restoration). Eric Warren, director of finance, reminded the committee that last year the Legislature continued Act 143 subsection 46, a resilience and disaster fund that has been used for elevations and other mitigation but currently lacks sustained funding.
Several committee members asked municipal witnesses for cost estimates and operational details; Barrie officials urged that H.397 keep a specific buyout provision so buyouts are a dedicated, statutory mitigation option rather than an item in a broad, temporary fund. No formal vote or motion occurred during this hearing; the committee scheduled follow‑up drafting and another review of the bill.
The testimony underscored tensions between preserving municipal development capacity and offering timely, fair compensation to homeowners exposed to recurring flood risk. City officials urged the committee to consider both a statutory home for buyouts and pragmatic funding steps — including a modest increase in the LOT pilot share and support for installation of a local river gauge — to make mitigation tools effective at the municipal level.
