FEMA Gives Nearly $27 Million in Public Assistance Funds
Release Date: April 5, 2005
Release Number: 1539-421a
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Today, the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Florida State Emergency Response Team (SERT) announced nearly $27 million in Public Assistance funds to several Florida cities and counties. This recent wave of funding brings the total amount of Public Assistance for Florida cities, counties and municipalities to more than $901 million.
Almost $17 million of this total funding is for debris removal for Polk County, Escambia County and the City of Pensacola. The remaining nearly $10 million is expedited funding for emergency protective measures for Orange, Lee and Osceola Counties and the Orange County Sheriffs Office and the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.
"FEMA continues to work with the state to give counties and cities all the funding we can as quickly as possible to help them clean up and get back to business as usual," said Dan Craig, director of FEMA's Recovery Division. "FEMA will be in Florida for as long as it takes to work with every applicant and ensure that all eligible damage costs from the 2004 hurricanes are funded."
The expedited funding included in this wave of public assistance funds advances up to 50 percent of the federal cost share for eligible expenses incurred by local governments to pay for emergency protective measures; including such costs as overtime, equipment, materials and contracts for emergency work.
"It is critical that we continue to move disaster assistance funds quickly into impacted communities still recovering from these storms," said Frank Koutnik, Deputy State Coordinating Officer for Recovery. "We thank our partners at FEMA for their steadfast commitment to expediting needed money to our local governments."
Payments on projects less than $54,100 are paid to applicants without any action required on their part. However, payment processing on projects greater than $54,100 begins only after the applicant submits a request to the state. The request may be submitted directly online at www.floridapa.org or through conventional methods. (Find out more about FEMA and Florida public assistance funding processes on attached backgrounder.)
Escambia County: $8.4 million - Debris Removal
(Escambia County) City of Pensacola: $1.9 million - Debris Removal
Lee County: $1.1 million - EXPEDITED Emergency Protective Measures
Orange County: $5.2 million - EXPEDITED Emergency Protective Measures
Orange County Sheriff's Office: $1.2 million - EXPEDITED Emergency Protective Measures
Osceola County: $1.1 million - EXPEDITED Emergency Protective Measures
Polk County: $6.5 million - Debris Removal
St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office: $1 million - EXPEDITED Emergency Protective Measures
The State Emergency Response Team (SERT) is a collaboration of Florida's state agencies led by the state coordinating officer. SERT's mission is to ensure that Florida is prepared to respond to emergencies, recover from them, and mitigate their impacts. Visit www.floridadisaster.org for the latest information on the hurricane relief efforts.
FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 06-Apr-2005 13:00:12