Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A unanimous 11-0 vote was passed this Thursday afternoon during the first Erie County legislative session of the new year to establish a 2022 Buffalo blizzard fund.
The fund of $15 million dollars was established to track the revenue and expenses related to the blizzard and be it further.
"What this fund will do is it will take all of the funding that we have spent, be it in public works or be it in emergency services and put it into an account and keep it itemized as to what everything was spent on," said Erie County Legislature Chair April Baskin. "That way, when hopefully should FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] dollars be made available to us. It's already set aside and organized in a way where we can report that to the federal government and get to my understanding up to 75% of a reimbursement."
The legislator explains, "We are taking funding that has already been earmarked in the general budget to be able to address issues like this. I'm very proud of the leadership and the county to have us in such a good financial standing to be able to do the rescue initiatives that we did throughout the blizzard and putting it in its own fund, so that when we get to the point where FEMA is ready to receive the information about our financial expenditures, we will be able to have it in an organized manner and quickly get that reimbursement back into the people's pockets."
The legislator says she wouldn't be surprised if more funds were to come to that account, "Our commissioner of emergency services is well versed in FEMA reimbursements and what exactly is going to qualify for a reimbursement from FEMA, so I'm going to leave it up to them to make the proper recommendations. I would not be surprised if this honorable body were going to, in the near future, see that we need to have more funds approved to be able to go into this account."
According to the memo to the legislators from the office of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz sent Tuesday, the preliminary cost of the blizzard is estimated between $7-$10 million. This includes worker overtime pay, snow plowing contracts, removal and towing, fuel, repairs to damaged equipment and buildings as well as miscellaneous supplies to support the Emergency Operations Center.
The county is still hearing word on whether or not the winter blizzard is considered a "Major Disaster," so that they can adhere to requirements to qualify for potential reimbursement.
