Above: Tropical Storm Irene took down trees and power lines in August
There’s no question we had some major weather events last year that kept emergency responders in Southborough busy. Recently the town learned they would get nearly $50K in federal reimbursement funds for overtime and other expenses incurred during Tropical Storm Irene in August and the tornadoes in June. Here’s a press release with more information.
The Town of Southborough was notified this week by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), that the Town will be receiving Federal reimbursement for costs incurred during the June 1st Tornados and Tropical Storm Irene. Between the two storms Southborough will be receiving $49,718.24.
Specific to the June 1st Tornados, Southborough will receive $2,762.74, to reimburse overtime costs incurred from the Fire Department’s response to Springfield as part of the State-Wide Fire Mobilization Plan – Task Force.
Specific to Tropical Storm Irene, Southborough will receive $44,246.50, to reimburse various Town Departments for overtime, equipment usage and purchases made during the storm and related to completing the reimbursement application paperwork. The Town will receive an additional compensation of $2,709.00, to recognize the 301 hours worked by citizen volunteers augmenting emergency services. “Receiving these funds will have a huge impact on our already tight budget, mostly due to the unexpected and unbudgeted monies spent during the storms,” states Fire Chief Joseph Mauro.
These reimbursements are being issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), under the Federal Disaster Assistance (FDA) program issued for each storm. Under the FDA program reimbursement is issued at 75% of the total reimbursement amount requested. The application process for reimbursement took Southborough, working jointly with a representative from FEMA, nearly three weeks to complete and was submitted and approved in late December 2011.
