Local Leaders Apply for Snowstorm Funding

Rockford, IL- Officials throughout the Stateline are signing up for federal disaster aid after last month`s major snowstorm. The December 1st storm buried Northern Illinois in nearly a foot of snow. Governor Blagojevich declared 49 Illinois counties state disaster areas. Of those counties, 26 are eligible for federal aid, including Winnebago, Boone, Stephenson, Ogle, and McHenry counties. State and federal emergency management officials stopped in Rockford Thursday morning to help local officials get underway on applying for federal funds. "We`ll pay for material expenses for whatever they needed to use to relieve the circumstance," says Michael Smith, a FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer. "Whether it was salt or ice or for their equipment expenses." Officials from FEMA and IEMA assisted more than 100 officials from local government organizations as well as certain private-non-profit organizations. Under the program, FEMA will reimburse municipalities 75% of the total costs accumulated during 48 hours of the storm. If approved, local governments can be supplemented for snow removal, de-icing operations and over-time labor. "They have money they have put out on the streets so to speak that performed public service and we`ll give them 75 percent of their eligible expenses back," says Smith. "We`ll have to go through our documentation and look at the number of hours that city employees have worked, the number of hours our equipment was on the road in order to come up with a solid figure as far as our expenditures were," says William Morr, Rockford Public Works Superintendent. During last month`s snowstorm, the city of Rockford spent nearly $642,000 or one third of its annual snow removal budget. While Morr says he isn`t sure how much Rockford will be reimbursed, he says the city isn`t dependant on the funds to pull through the rest of this winter. "Having already expended 38 percent of our budget, we still have quite a bit of work to do with the rest of the winter," says Morr. "But I think at this time we`re in good shape." County and city leaders will have to submit their formal request for assistance within the next 30 days. Once officials submit a request, FEMA officials will inspect and verify the costs associated with the storm.