A federal pilot program reimbursing states and local governments for disaster relief labor paid on regular time won't be retroactively applied to expenses Garland County incurred in the wake of the 2012 Christmas Day ice storm, despite an appeal from County Judge Rick Davis.
Davis sent a letter last month to Region VI Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Tony Robinson asking FEMA to reconsider the reimbursement amounts it approved for the $672,136 the county spent removing debris. The communication, dated July 10, was also sent to state and federal legislators and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management officials.
FEMA approved $504,940, which doesn't include what the letter stipulates was $91,218 for county workers' regular-time labor.
According to the letter, a FEMA official had told Davis the expense could possibly be recouped.
"It was one of the representatives of FEMA that was here on site during that time," Davis said. "That's not guaranteeing anything. That's just a verbal conversation."
Region VI Public Information Officer Earl Armstrong said an official of the kind Davis alluded to wouldn't be authorized to make such statements.
"I believe that's a conversation for the judge to have with our regional administrator," he said in email in which he declined to comment on FEMA's reaction to the letter.
The county was declared a federal disaster area Jan. 29, 2013, the same day the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act was signed into law. It authorized a pilot program reimbursing states and local governments for regular-time labor associated with disaster cleanup.
Reimbursements had previously been applied only to overtime hours, according to ADEM, the agency that administers the state's FEMA reimbursements. County policy prohibits overtime pay. Employees who work in excess of their regular hours receive additional time off. The arrangement limited the county's federal labor reimbursement to $756.
Armstrong said the Public Assistance Alternative Procedures Pilot Program was first used after the May 2013 tornadoes in Oklahoma and took effect nationwide the following month. He said the enabling legislation doesn't include a a provision for retroactive reimbursement.
Davis' letter maintains the county's debris removal was more cost effective than the contract it issued to clean up Hot Springs Village. The letter takes issue with FEMA applying the 75 percent federal reimbursement rate to the full $329,694 contract amount while assessing the percentage on only $175,243 of the $265,705 the county spent on labor, equipment and landfill fees for its portion of the cleanup.
According to the letter, contract workers cleared and disposed of 8,911 cubic yards of debris strewn along about 200 miles of Village roads. The county road department cleared close to 1,000 miles of road and hauled 4,733 cubic yards of debris to the county landfill. A chipper disposed of an additional 30,000 cubic yards left on county right of ways. County crews put in 300 hours on the chipper, said Bo Robertson, the director of the county's department of emergency management.
"If the county had hired outside contractors, the resulting approximate price tag would easily be over $1 million," Davis wrote in the letter. "It seems the precedent had been set that FEMA would have paid the higher amounts of reimbursements with no questions asked."
He noted last month that Saline County contracted out the entirety of its cleanup and had the reimbursement rate applied to all contract costs. FEMA awarded it $1.1 million in February for expenses related to the Christmas Day storm, according to a FEMA press release.
Davis said he was reluctant to outsource more work before he could be assured of a disaster declaration that would qualify the county for reimbursement funds.
The county received in May the $247,270 federal reimbursement for contracted debris removal. The county and state will split the remaining 25 percent of the contract costs. According to ADEM, the county will get a $131,434 federal pay out related to its portion of the cleanup. The last of the inspections required for receipt of the money was concluded earlier this week, according to ADEM.
Robertson said ADEM officials were at the landfill Tuesday verifying debris from the storm had burned in accordance with a permit obtained from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
"We were over there looking at the ash," he said. "It's part of the close out process."
Robertson said paperwork substantiating equipment costs was recently submitted to ADEM.
"We're in the final stages," he said. "The (federal reimbursement) should be coming soon."
Davis said FEMA hasn't responded to the letter, explaining its intent was to highlight what he's characterized as a misplaced policy that elevates expediency over cost considerations.
"I don't think there will be much result from it, but I think it's making a point" he said. "I think the county saved money during the disaster. I think it's not right that we're not getting reimbursed for our labor in this deal."
The quorum court used the $247,240 federal reimbursement to offset the $30,527 in landfill expenses associated with the storm and to reimburse the $100,000 borrowed from the Ouachita Memorial Hospital Fund for storm expenses. The remaining $116,743 was transferred to the county road fund before the same amount was appropriated to replace a grader destroyed in an event unrelated to the storm.
According to figures provided by ADEM, $441,822 in federal and state reimbursements will ultimately be remitted to the county.
Robertson said the PAAP provision reimbursing regular-time labor would benefit the county in the event of another weather-induced disaster. It provides for a sliding federal reimbursement rate, paying 85 percent of debris removal costs during the first 30 days of a disaster, 80 percent during days 31 though 90 and 75 percent for work done up to 180 days after the disaster started.
The pilot program will remain in effect until next June.
Local on 08/01/2014