FEMA Funds May Dent Deficit

FEMA Funds May Dent Deficit
Town could be reimburSed 75% of costs from Jan. blizzard
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON  With winter now largely giving way to spring, town officials and the Highway Department still have one considerable hurdle ahead of them in the depleted snow and ice budget.

Interim Town Administrator Bob Markel says the town overspent by more than $110,000 this year in snow and ice expenditures, creating a historic deficit to match the season’s equally historic snowfall.

“That’s not good news,” Mr. Markel told selectmen.

Despite the record-breaking deficit, Mr. Markel — who has spoken with Emergency Management Director Richard Curtis — said there may be a silver lining to be found buried under the winter’s snow.

“We are eligible, and have applied for, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s reimbursement for that first very big snowstorm,” Mr. Markel explained.

The federal government, Mr. Markel said, could reimburse the town 75 percent of what was spent during the late-January blizzard that brought more than a foot of snow to the region and closed schools for much of the week.

Once a local state of emergency was declared, the Highway Department was tasked with meticulously cataloging costs, which topped out at about $147,000 for that particular squall.

“We have applied for about $107,000,” Mr. Markel said.

“That’s almost going to cover the deficit.”

The administrator also shared another bit of good news related to the reimbursement.

Where normally the federal funds may take months, even years, to come in, there is a bill in the Legislature that would allow cities and towns to use FEMA reimbursements to cover snow and ice costs for this fiscal year.

“Normally, the FEMA money comes in, it goes into the general fund and becomes free cash for the next year,” Mr. Markel explained.

Typically, snow and ice debt is covered by the next year’s free cash allotment — a situation that may have proven otherwise problematic for the town because the state Department of Revenue won’t certify this year’s free cash until audits of fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2014 are complete.

It will also guarantee that, when finally certified, the town will have access to almost all of the roughly $750,000 it’s in line to receive from last year’s tax title auction, the sale of 252 Baldwinville Road, and reimbursements from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.