Woodfin officials say FEMA reimbursements, debris removal shaping budget as town plans parks and Town Hall work

Town finance and administration staff told the Woodfin Town Council on Jan. 21 that the town is proceeding on storm recovery projects from Tropical Storm Helene while watching the timing of federal reimbursements and continued repair costs.

Sherry Powers, who presented the town’s year‑end fiscal overview, said the town’s amended overall budget is $10,778,000 and that it includes about $2,200,000 of estimated FEMA proceeds. Powers said an estimated $1,600,000 of that FEMA appropriation is directed at debris removal and that the town has spent a little more than $550,000 to date on debris contractors and initial cleanup.

“We think we’ll come close to that number,” Powers said of the debris removal estimate. She added that many of the town’s damage claims are concentrated on the riverfront parks and that FEMA site inspections are complete for Silver Line Park and Riverside Park.

Shannon Tuck, the town manager, said the town has submitted batches of applications for private property debris removal and is awaiting FEMA direction on next steps. She said the right‑of‑way debris collection is roughly two‑thirds complete and that a chipper will arrive at the town debris site soon to begin chipping and hauling debris from the old soccer fields below the community center.

Powers reviewed the town’s revenue and expenditure position. She said the town had collected stronger property‑tax receipts than initially feared after the storm and that sales‑and‑use tax declined modestly but might rebound as reconstruction spending ramps up. She said the town’s operating budget (excluding the FEMA appropriation) is about $8.5 million and that total committed emergency‑related expenditures were $5 million to date, representing “about 46% of our appropriated budget” for the year to date.

Powers identified several FEMA‑eligible reimbursement categories the town has applied for: roughly $61,000 in overtime reimbursement and about $78,000 in equipment reimbursements for town vehicles and equipment used during emergency response. She said the town has requested reimbursement for an emergency bank restoration project (about $653,000) and other emergency contracts tied to park and infrastructure repairs; FEMA typically pays category A and B costs promptly, she said, while larger permanent repairs are reimbursement‑based and can take longer.

The town’s parks and greenway capital program remains the largest single multi‑year project, Powers said. She said the parks capital budget across several years totals roughly $15,430,000 and that the town has spent about $6.2 million so far; additional storm‑repair appropriations are expected to add millions more as damage assessments are refined.

On reserves and debt, Powers said the town targets an unrestricted fund balance equal to roughly 50% of operating expenditures and that the current balance is about 63% — above the target — with $946,000 of that balance appropriated in the current budget. The council has set aside $600,000 in the current budget for a new Town Hall and has $300,000 remaining from a prior allocation, she said.

Council members asked about the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster funding administered by the state; Powers said Woodfin had not yet begun an application for that program but staff would pursue opportunities to apply as program rules and allocations become clearer.

Staff also told the council the town is soliciting an engineering firm for stormwater and street repairs under FEMA public‑assistance requirements; the request for qualifications closes at the end of the month. The planning and public‑works departments are continuing to close several inherited stormwater permits and to recruit for advisory committee vacancies.

Ending: Officials told the council that while the town is in generally sound fiscal shape, timing of FEMA reimbursements and elevated construction costs pose cash‑flow risks for large park and infrastructure projects; staff said they will work to manage timing and seek additional grant funding as repairs proceed.