BUFFALO, N.Y. — The digging-out process following that blast of lake effect snow largely wrapped up last week. But now there's a flurry of number-crunching for some emergency funding help from Washington so local taxpayers don't have to cover everything.
Town of Evans Supervisor Mary Hosler says, "It's a lot of work. It's a lot of paperwork, it's a lot of reporting. It's a lot of - you know to file a FEMA claim."
And that work for cities, towns, villages, and even some impacted school districts began perhaps even as the dig-out was continuing last week with estimated cost figures due into Erie County last Wednesday. That is just as the county must report them to the state by November 30 which is this coming Wednesday.
They're aiming for a $4.2 Million thresh-hold to qualify for federal assistance just as President Biden approved Governor Hochul's initial $5 Million emergency declaration request.
The county covered some of the initial big costs like private contractors for those large payloaders and dump trucks we saw on the roads and those snow mountains at the ECC South campus, the Buffalo waterfront, and elsewhere.
But Hosler notes some towns also rented equipment. And the costs are not just for actual snow cleanup There were also hired towing companies with bills for stranded vehicles and also factor in municipal staffer's overtime.
"It was not only our highway but also our police department as well as parks department. The estimated hours for our fire departments as well. So that also goes towards the storm totals," Hosler says.
And while they may meet complex paperwork deadlines, past storms like 2014's Snow-vember edition show something else according to Hosler.
"We were getting 2014 storm proceeds in 2016 when I took office. And we had to work on some of those because some of the files weren't correct or whatever happened there. So I fully expect this isn't a quick turnaround. So I'm looking maybe two years out before you get paid."
US Senator Chuck Schumer's snow pile media push last week to get Small Business Administration assistance for impacted businesses may also take years of complex efforts to actually come through.
The Governor's office also provided a statement to 2 On Your Side:
"New York State and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services are exhausting every avenue to bring additional federal support to communities impacted by this historic storm. Governor Hochul already obtained a federal Emergency Declaration from President Biden which, unlike a Major Disaster Declaration, does not require damage thresholds to be met. The statewide total damages required for a Major Disaster Declaration is $35,756,211.
The Division continues to work with all relevant state and local partners to calculate costs and assess damage in order to obtain any additional federal relief beyond the Emergency Declaration".
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