County warns that proposed FEMA changes could leave Keys shouldering more storm costs

Lisa Tennyson, Monroe County’s director of legislative affairs, briefed the commission on possible FEMA policy changes and their financial implications for the Keys. Tennyson said proposals under discussion include raising damage thresholds (which could move a county‑level qualifying threshold from tens of millions toward roughly $175 million), lowering federal cost shares for smaller disasters (potentially as low as 25%), and narrowing reimbursable projects to exclude noncritical infrastructure such as parks and cultural sites.