Saturday, November 27, 2010
Pike County Awaiting FEMA Decision
KENTUCKY....
Pike County taxpayers may have to pay more than $135,000 spent on flood recovery projects that were performed with no promise of federal funding following July flooding. According to local reports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service was one of the first agencies responding after flood waters swept through eastern Kentucky. They were examining areas to see if the Emergency Watershed Program could fund restructuring of the county's creeks.
But Jack Kuhn, with the Kentucky office of Natural Resources Conservation Service, says Pike County's District 1 Magistrate Jeff Anderson refused to let them work in his district and that the work was done by contractors without the agency's involvment. However, Anderson has denied those claims. The county is waiting to see whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay for the work or county taxpayers are responsible. Kuhn says, because 33 repair projects in District 1 didn't go through NRCS, they are not eligible for reimbursement. FEMA has sent paperwork back to the county indicating a refusal to pay because they say the work is under the authoeity of NRCS.
Pike County taxpayers may have to pay more than $135,000 spent on flood recovery projects that were performed with no promise of federal funding following July flooding. According to local reports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service was one of the first agencies responding after flood waters swept through eastern Kentucky. They were examining areas to see if the Emergency Watershed Program could fund restructuring of the county's creeks.But Jack Kuhn, with the Kentucky office of Natural Resources Conservation Service, says Pike County's District 1 Magistrate Jeff Anderson refused to let them work in his district and that the work was done by contractors without the agency's involvment. However, Anderson has denied those claims. The county is waiting to see whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay for the work or county taxpayers are responsible. Kuhn says, because 33 repair projects in District 1 didn't go through NRCS, they are not eligible for reimbursement. FEMA has sent paperwork back to the county indicating a refusal to pay because they say the work is under the authoeity of NRCS.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 5:42 PM 
