A rough season of flooding, hurricanes, and other disasters haven’t distracted emergency managers across the country from worries that they may soon have less federal money to spend on rebuilding roads, removing debris, and paying overtime for first responders.
The fears stem from an October 2007 change in how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will disburse money from the Public Assistance Grants Program, according to an article in Government Technology’s Emergency Management. The change, which would pay a flat rate versus the previous sliding scale, has managers concerned that not only will they have less money to work with, but that there will be a scramble between state and local governments for the funds.
“This is the No. 1 regulatory issue in emergency management right now,” Kristin Robinson of the National Emergency Manager’s Association (NEMA) told the magazine. “This is the heart attack issue.”
FEMA denied the change will cause the type of mayhem managers predict, saying many of the costs incurred by local and state collaboration will fall outside the rule change, according to the magazine. Read the article online.
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.