4/9/2018

FDEM to Join Irma Recovery Roundtable with FEMA, Keys Officials

Today, Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) Director Wes Maul will participate in a roundtable discussion regarding ongoing storm recovery efforts in the Florida Keys. Also in attendance will be the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Monroe County and City of Marathon officials.

490 of the Florida Keys’ 500 Public Assistance projects are currently with the applicant under development or with FEMA under review. This means that 490 of Keys’ 500 projects are not in state review queues. The remaining ten have been federally obligated. Four of those are currently being paid. Of the remaining nine, the applicants have withdrawn some for further work, while others are missing the required documentation. 

Regarding City of Marathon Project Worksheet (PW) #38:

FEMA obligated Project Worksheet (“PW”) #38 on March 16, 2018- approximately three weeks ago. To date, the applicant has not submitted the Request for Reimbursement (RFR) needed for all large project disbursements, nor has the applicant submitted any of the required documentation. Furthermore, the City of Marathon’s original version of PW#38 contained ineligible, non-reimbursable work. By working with the applicant and FEMA, however, FDEM recovery staff refined the project worksheet and obtained a successful federal obligation.

FDEM is not in any way delaying storm reimbursements to Monroe County. In fact, Division staff are expeditiously processing every reimbursement request to ensure the reduction of the Florida Keys’ excessively high historical rates of federal de-obligations. With our newly-instituted policies and procedures, Monroe County applicants will not only receive actual reimbursements faster than during previous storms, but with a significantly reduced risk of later federal de-obligation. This will enable Keys communities to achieve and maintain budget certainty following future storms.

Please see below for information and facts regarding Monroe County and City of Marathon reimbursements from Hurricane Irma:

The charts below summarize past storm obligations for Monroe County and the City of Marathon.

Historically, Monroe County has seen a 31% rate of de-obligation and, due to mistakes made during previous storms, still owes money to the state and federal government.

Over the last decade, however, the City of Marathon’s de-obligation rate stands at 53%. For Hurricane Wilma, which is the storm most similar to last year’s Irma, Marathon experienced a 60% rate of de-obligation- more than double the statewide average. This means that more than half of the City of Marathon’s project reimbursements failed federal review, resulting in claw backs of federal funds years after Wilma made landfall. Moving forward, Florida taxpayers will continue to be responsible for the return of those dollars. This is preventable for Irma. By working together on the front end, the City, Division and FEMA can significantly reduce the risk of future Irma de-obligations.

*The Division can readily provide timelines and other supporting information regarding the above projects upon request.

 

 

FDEM staff are working hard every day with our local and federal partners to make sure Florida’s communities receive their obligated federal reimbursements as quickly and with as much security as possible. In the past, federal de-obligations have resulted in billions of dollars taken from Florida communities- important funds that have likely already been spent. Making sure that this potentially devastating situation does not occur again is the driving force behind the Division’s current recovery operations and the reason why we thoroughly review every single project submission.

The Division has taken important steps to streamline reimbursement reviews and ensure that no obstacles remain at the state level. The updated procedures now in place include streamlined guidelines and faster response times to better assist counties in navigating the complex federal reimbursement system. These changes have been demonstrated to be so effective that the Division expects Florida’s recovery from Hurricane Irma to be the fastest closeout following a major hurricane in US history.

To better serve Florida’s communities:

• FDEM has brought on additional technical experts to assist in the state review of projects for corrections or compliance issues. This has completely eliminated a prior-existing review backlog.
• FDEM has begun to pre-validate project costs. This results in those projects being ‘payment ready’ when a Request for Reimbursement (RFR) is submitted.
• FDEM has updated what was an antiquated system to make it more user-friendly and transparent. We created a system that allows on demand reporting for subrecipients, providing better awareness regarding the status of projects and payments. The Division also readily provides project status updates upon request.
• FDEM has continued revising our internal processes to eliminate redundant and unnecessary steps.
• FDEM built an effective and productive partnership with the office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Through demonstrated thoroughness and established trust, this partnership has reduced Division of Financial Services (DFS) project review times from an average of ten weeks to, in all cases, less than seven days.
• Through working with FEMA, FDEM has been provided with a suggested list of documentation, by subject area, that they would need to efficiently process expedited claims. We have disseminated that information to all applicants.

As demonstrated in the Hurricanes Hermine and Matthew graphic below, changes have not only ensured best practices, but have had a direct and positive effect on the speed at which Florida processes and pays out federal reimbursement claims. The changes outlined above took effect during the late summer and fall of 2017.

For more information regarding the Division’s current storm recovery efforts and our complete elimination of a prior-existing reimbursement review backlog, please visit: https://www.floridadisaster.org/news-media/news/fdem-eliminates-hurricanes-matthew-and-hermine-reimbursement-review-backlog/

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