WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The loss of life in a severe storm cannot be measured in dollars. The damage from hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes can. And the total can run into the billions.
Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker tells County Commissioners it’s time to start planning financially for the aftermath of severe weather.
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“I recommend that we attempt to put some more funding into our reserves,” said Baker who worries local taxpayers will shoulder much of the cost of the next damaging storm.
She fears the effects of budget and staff cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Local governments counted on FEMA to pay most of the costs of repairing roads, fixing the infrastructure, and paying first responders for hours of overtime as a result of severe storms.
“We don’t know what grants are going to be cut. We don’t know quite how FEMA is going to respond if we end up in a crisis,” said Administrator Baker.
“We’re not sure what FEMA’s going to do,” adds George Landry, St. Lucie County’s Administrator.
Landry says the county keeps up to 25% of its overall budget in a reserve fund. But with FEMA cuts, Landry isn’t so sure that’s enough.
“We may have to look to increase that,” said Landry, “Or we may have to during storm season, cut back on certain expenditures just to make sure we don’t spend money we don’t need to.”
In January, President Trump suggested FEMA should be eliminated. The agency’s staff was cut 84%, and according to CNN FEMA, is not ready for the upcoming hurricane season.
“We have been having horrible weather throughout the country, Verdenia Baker told Palm Beach County Commissioners. “And I am just a little nervous about how fast FEMA as well as the state is going to respond.”
Even if he doesn’t abolish FEMA, President Trump has made it clear, that state and local governments are going to have to pick up more of the costs of rebuilding after a storm,even in the President’s home county.
