Four months ago President Bush issued a disaster declaration for 11 Maine counties for two typical Maine snowstorms in December.

Maine’s Department of Transportation is supposed to get $1.1 million and to date the Federal Emergency Management Agency has obligated $3 million to 282 applicants in Maine.

Maine DOT and municipalities did work many hours, plus overtime, to clear the roads from these two snowstorms, but how much did the Maine DOT and the municipalities save in January, February and March when they didn’t have to pay for snow removal and road sanding?

FEMA is funded by our tax dollar. State snow removal is funded by our state, highway use and local taxes. FEMA funds should only be used in cases like the great ice storm that paralyzed our state – a real emergency – and not two forgotten, standard Maine snowstorms.

I wonder how much of this FEMA money will get to the communities, who have long since recovered from these standard Maine snowstorms, or will be diverted to the Maine general fund to help bail the administration out of the lousy financial situation it’s in?

I sure hope these communities who applied for aid through state resources follow up on where the federal aid has gone.
Al Pelletier, Norway

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