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County staff warns FEMA changes could shift more disaster costs to states and counties
Summary
A county briefing said FEMA is considering changes that would increase disaster declaration thresholds fourfold and shift responsibilities to states; staff said the county is monitoring but the final design is unclear and mitigation grants may be limited.
A county staff briefing outlined emerging proposals for FEMA to shift more responsibility and funding to states after the upcoming hurricane season and warned of potential local consequences.
The staffer identified in the transcript as "Miss Deb" told the committee that proposed recommendations include increasing the public assistance declaration threshold by four times, which would raise the cost a disaster must reach before federal reimbursement is available. “The idea is to increase public assistance declaration thresholds by 4 times,” she said.
Miss Deb said some FEMA mitigation programs have been eliminated and that formula grants and other changes under discussion could reduce the availability of funding for local mitigation and recovery projects. She urged continued monitoring and coordination with state emergency management to plan for possible new funding approaches and to assess whether the county needs to include additional disaster planning in its budget depending on state actions.
County members asked whether disaster planning would need to be added to the budget; staff said it depends on state decisions and that state emergency management is actively communicating with counties.
