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Howard County council hears that two Safe & Sound loans remain pending FEMA review
Summary
County staff told the council that most Safe & Sound flood‑mitigation funding is loans; two $5 million Maryland resilience loans remain subject to FEMA approval for NC3 and T1, while other federal and state loans/grants are already drawn or closed.
Chair Walsh opened the work session by asking staff to explain attachments showing how grants, loans and PAYGO are being used for the county’s Safe & Sound flood‑mitigation program. Dr. Sun and project staff said the project finance charts were posted to the portal but that some council members had not received the files and staff would re‑send them.
Mark Richmond, a county project finance staffer, told the council the “only federal funds that we're getting for Safe and Sound are the $75,000,000 WIFIA loan — which we're already drawing — and an $850,000 federal discretionary grant that we're currently working through the application paperwork for.” He also said Maryland resilience loans totaling $5,000,000 were awarded for four projects; two loans closed this week and two remain delayed because they are awaiting FEMA review.
Deputy Chief of Staff Brian Schefter confirmed that initial assumptions about federal funding were revised after staff learned several loans were state‑funded. Schefter said two low‑interest loans have closed and “there are two outstanding that are subject to FEMA approval — they are still pending review by FEMA under the new administration's guidance,” and he named the two projects held up as NC3 and T1.
Council members pressed staff for a clearer, project‑level, year‑by‑year accounting of awards and expenditures so members could verify how much award money is actually available this fiscal year versus prior appropriations that carry forward. Staff recommended adding explanatory narratives to the project pages and promised to post consultant modeling that shows impacts if expected funding does not materialize; engineers expect that modeling early next week and staff said it will be uploaded to the portal before the council’s vote.
The session concluded with the council asking staff to resend the attachments immediately and to include a short narrative clarifying which grants or loans are closed, which are state funded, and which still require FEMA or other approvals.
