NORWAY — Selectmen have added their names to a resolution urging changes in federal disaster assistance regulations so Maine towns and cities hit hard by severe ice storms this past winter can get reimbursed for damage.
“It wasn’t a big money problem for us,” Town Manager David Holt told selectmen, but for other towns “it was a big deal.”
While not a binding document, the resolution has been signed by dozens of towns and cities to show their common support for those towns hit by storms between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1 and received no federal money for overtime pay, sand and other costs.
A request by Gov. Paul LePage to declare the storms a natural disaster was denied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency because the agency’s winter storm guidelines do not specifically offer assistance in the aftermath of ice storms.
FEMA denied the request, saying road treatment costs are ineligible based on their snow assistance and severe winter storm policy that excludes sand, salt and snow and ice road treatment costs.
It does include snow, ice, high winds, blizzard conditions and other wintry conditions that cause “substantial physical damages or loss to property” where the town or city can demonstrate their response was well beyond their capacity.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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