JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The state and local governments could be on the hook for more money if a hurricane hits this year.
That’s the message coming from top Florida leaders in both parties as we enter hurricane season.
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“Are there problems with FEMA? Absolutely. As past Commissioner I experienced it,” former Florida Agriculture Commissioner and current Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said.
Fried said she’s concerned about what shakeups at FEMA could mean for the Sunshine State.
President Donald Trump has expressed an interest in dismantling the agency and has even rejected some emergency aid requests.
The Trump administration recently denied an emergency aid extension requested by North Carolina, as the state continued recovering from Hurricane Helene.
“I’m very fearful that we’re gonna be stuck in a perfect storm where there is not the proper pre preparedness, what happens during and then what happens afterwards when everybody is fighting over dollars that are going away,” Fried said.
On Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis even acknowledged federal storm clean up reimbursements might not be what they have been in recent years.
After Helene, Milton and Debby Florida received reimbursements totaling more than $1 billion.
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“I don’t know if we’re going to get reimbursement going forward. Certainly not at that level from what we’re seeing,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis did argue, in terms of preparation and immediate storm response like power restoration, regardless of what happens with FEMA, those efforts shouldn’t be impacted.
“That is really the state leading that with locals executing that. And we assume we’re not gonna get support from FEMA on all of that and sure enough, that’s how we’ve rolled,” DeSantis said.
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We did reach out to Jacksonville’s local Chief of Emergency Preparedness and asked how a lack of federal help could impact the city’s ability to respond.
A JFRD spokesperson told us the Chief would not, “comment on speculation.”
As far as the city’s rainy-day fund goes, Jacksonville has a combined total of $465 million that could be utilized for fronting cash on storm response costs.
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