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Woodford County says FEMA public assistance is coming; USDA buyout contract pending
Summary
Emergency manager reported the county can recover about 87% of eligible flood expenses under a federal public-assistance declaration; hazard mitigation funding was denied and is being appealed. The USDA National Resources Conservation Service has approved emergency watershed buyouts and the county authorized review of the contract.
Woodford County Director of Emergency Management (Director Chandler) told the fiscal court the county is now eligible to recover most costs from this year’s floods after a federal public assistance declaration and that the county is awaiting the USDA contract for emergency watershed protection buyouts.
“...we stand to receive or recover 87% of the number that's on the financial report,” Director Chandler said, describing the public assistance reimbursement percentage the county expects on eligible expenses reported under the county’s applicant process.
Chandler said Kentucky and other affected states were denied the hazard mitigation program after the public assistance declaration and that county officials are working with Kentucky Emergency Management to appeal that denial. “We won't give up on that just yet,” he said.
On buyouts, Chandler said the county has received notice that the USDA application to the national office was approved and that the county is “only waiting on the contract at this point for the emergency watershed protection buyouts.” The court previously authorized the judge executive and county attorney to review the buyout arrangement; with the contract now expected, Judge Executive Kaye said the county attorney and the judge will review the document and, “we will move forward with approving it as long as it meets the requirements of the county attorney.” The court raised no objections and approved that course.
Chandler said the county will seek to qualify as many eligible expenses as possible for public assistance and emphasized the breadth of eligible entities: “Each political jurisdiction has its own recovery process. So the city of Versailles will go through that. Midway will go through that. The school district has eligible expenses. The fire district, the health department, etcetera.”
Chandler also cited statewide displacement figures reported to the Emergency Response Commission: as of the most recent meeting he had reviewed, 615 Kentuckians remained displaced statewide from the February and April floods; he said multiple Woodford County families remain displaced.
The court recorded no new vote to accept federal funds; it did authorize county leaders to review and proceed with the USDA contract when received, provided the county attorney signs off.
