Cheshire Expected to get Federal Funds for Storm Costs

With the stroke of his pen President Barack Obama's signature became the silver lining to the Jan. 12 winter storm that walloped the state with historic snowfall totals and busted already cash-strapped municipal budgets. The federal government is going to help cover the multi-million dollar price tag of the cleanup.

 It was announced Friday that Obama has approved Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's Feb. 18 request for a major disaster declaration for federal aid in connection with the Jan. 12 snowstorm. This declaration includes Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, New Haven, New London and Tolland counties, including the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nations.

 A preliminary cost estimate for storm cleanup in those counties in the 48 hours following the storm’s onslaught tops $14.5 million. Federal Emergency Management  Agency (FEMA) will reimburse approximately 75 percent of that cost, said Brenda Bergeron, a spokesperson for Connecticut’s Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

 “It’s very exciting to be getting this back,” Bergeron said.

New Haven County’s cost topped the state charts at $3.5 million. Due to the county’s high cost and the amount of snow that fell there, Bergeron said the area is eligible for reimbursement of costs incurred during the 72-hour period following the storm. That could put the county’s cost above $3.5 million, since that number was based on a 48-hour response time to the storm that dumped upwards of two feet of snow and essentially put the state at standstill.

 “The process to determine what each town will get is just starting,” Bergeron said.

Cheshire has been reimbursed for only three storms in about 10 years, Department of Public Works Operations Manager George Noewatne has said. “We got 25 inches (on Jan. 11-12) in Cheshire, I can’t see how it’s not reimbursable,” Noewatne said at the time.

The reimbursement could also cover the significant cost to replace or repair the collapsed bubble at the Cheshire Community Pool. The town's insurance company has not yet made a determination on whether it will insist that repairs be attempted on the torn fabric bubble or if it will allow the town to purchase a new all-weather bubble.

Department of Public Works Director Joseph Michelangelo said the town should be eligible for 100 percent of its out of pocket costs from fighting the storm. That could amount to as much as $80,000 he said. Eligible costs include fuel, salt, equipment and overtime costs, Michelangelo added.

Meetings between state and federal agencies should be set up within the next three weeks, Bergeron said. Then FEMA and state officials will meet with town and city officials to nail down final figures.

 All in all, she said, “I think it takes several months.”

“The major disaster declaration that Obama declared will help our cities and towns with the gaping holes in their budgets left by a brutal, relentless winter,” Malloy said in a statement. “I’d like to thank President Obama and FEMA for their quick action in this regard."