WIUM Local
(2009-03-16)
County Board Chair Marty Lafary says the county is still waiting to get reimbursed from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency for projects that have been approved by FEMA. "Once the federal government, or FEMA, approves them, they are sent to IEMA," says Lafary. "Once they get to IEMA, it's just a matter of time, usually 4-to-8 weeks, before the money is actually sent to the applicant."
Lafary says the county paid for the work out of its own pocket. "That's what we're waiting for, money like that," says Lafary. "Some of those projects have been done and the contractor has been waiting on his money. We had to, as a county, go ahead and get them paid so the interest doesn't start growing on that."
Lafary says some of the reimbursement dollars should be coming to the county in the next few days. Lafary says FEMA classifies a small project as costing $60,000 or less, while large projects cost $60,000 and up. "So every house that has to be demolished or have hazardous material taken out of, are considered small projects," says Lafary.
Lafary does not know what the final total will be for all of the projects. He says more than 150 projects have been turned in to FEMA for approval. Lafary says there are still some projects that have not been turned in for approval.
Lafary adds some Gulfport residents have applied for the flood buy-out option, but money for that has not yet been allocated to the county from FEMA. "That's gonna be just a pool of money that they give us, and if you divide that pool amongst all the residents, it may not be enough to interest people to do the buy-outs," says Lafary. © Copyright 2009, wium
