St. Johns County receives initial obligations from FEMA for Matthew

St. Johns County has received its initial obligations through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance program for Hurricane Matthew recovery.

After taking the brunt of the Category 3 storm on Oct. 7, 2016, the county received its first grant award from FEMA, a $749,475 reimbursement for “Roads and Bridges,” only on Nov. 21 of this year. It received additional grant awards of $1,591,171.46 for “Roads and Bridges” and $6,375 for “Public Buildings” on Nov. 30.

These figures come from daily reports on Public Assistance grant awards from FEMA, with the latest available dated Thursday.

On Friday afternoon, Joe Giammanco, disaster recovery manager for the county, provided The Record with a FEMA funding update that listed over $3.1 million in obligations.

The five obligations are $999,300 for “Three (3) Sites (Multiple Roads),” $953,242 for “Treasure Beach Road,” $916,361 for “Vilano Beach South Road,” $251,957 for “Completed Misc. Rd.,” and $8,500 for “Derelict Vessels.”

It was unclear as of close of business Friday whether the figures provided by the county included any or all of the obligations listed on FEMA’s site.

Commissioner Jimmy Johns said at Tuesday’s meeting that it felt like Christmas had come early. While acknowledging the county is still less than 10 percent of the way to its reimbursement goal, he said officials now have something quantifiable to show for their efforts.

According to daily reports from FEMA, over $150 million in Public Assistance dollars had been awarded to other sub-grantees in Florida before so much as $1 went to St. Johns County.

County officials have said the guiding principle for the disaster recovery process has been to maximize reimbursement while minimizing deobligation of funds down the road. They’ve said the county had healthy enough reserves to float the expenses for both Matthew and Irma, whereas other counties have had to borrow.

Through the Public Assistance program, FEMA typically reimburses up to 75 percent of eligible expenditures and the state will reimburse up to 12.5 percent of eligible expenditures, leaving St. Johns County to fund the remaining 12.5 percent, although there are some exceptions.

The county’s current damage assessment for Matthew is $53.4 million, not including about $70 million in damages to beaches and dunes. It is expected FEMA and the state will reimburse $46.7 million of those costs, leaving the county to come up with a $6.7 million local share.

The county has already spent north of $20 million out of pocket, mostly on debris removal, emergency activation and inundated roads.

For comparison, the preliminary damage assessment for Hurricane Irma was $32.7 million, not including about $50 million in damages to beaches and dunes. It is expected FEMA and the state will reimburse $29.1 million of those costs, leaving the county to come up with a $3.6 million local share.

The county has a little more than $14 million in initial, eligible Irma-related costs, including $10.6 million for debris removal, $2 million for emergency activation and $1.4 million for inundated roads. It’s anticipated FEMA and the state of Florida will reimburse about $12.4 million of those costs. The county would fund the remaining $1.8 million.