State leaders question who will pay for weather emergencies in Western New York
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The city of Buffalo confirmed with News 4 that digging out from this January’s storms cost $6.6 million, $5 million of which went to private contractors. So, who will bear the financial brunt of the cost for this and future snowstorms?
After seeing recent comments by Mayor Brown about a possible tax increase as a result of recent snowstorms News 4 reached out to the city.
With the city confirming that is just a possible consideration and that the mayor’s comments incorporated more factors than just snow removal. Still the question of who will pay for these weather emergencies worries state leaders.
“There are some emergencies that are so big that local areas can’t handle it and we recognize that when there’s a horrible storm flooding like in Louisiana. We understand the federal government is going out there and we support federal government going out there and helping those people. We’re just saying when we have our storms, we are asking for the same courtesy,” said District 143 Assemblymember Monica Wallace.
FEMA rules typically prevent government assistance for snow removal, only considering record or near-record snowfall a factor, not damages that occur.
To try and change that, Assemblymember Wallace along with other state leaders sent a letter to FEMA Thursday, asking for a rule change.
“This is just a vehicle to say we’re not capable of picking it up every single time. We need the federal government to kick in the way the federal government does in other communities that experience different kinds of climate emergencies,” Wallace continued.
The letter, which was signed by politicians on both sides of the aisle stated that despite causing widespread damage, and even death, neither November or December storms of 2022 qualified for federal emergency assistance, until the president overrode FEMA rules.
“The fact that the president had to step in and essentially provide the funding that FEMA should have provided anyway is really the impetus behind this letter,” added State Senator George Borrello.
The city says they will be able to offset costs in this year’s budget, but going forward will have to look at various options to increase the city’s revenues. FEMA hopefully being one of those options.
“It quickly adds up as a very costly expense for local governments and FEMA should step in and do exactly what they do for floods and other natural disasters,” Borrello concluded.
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Dillon Morello is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has been part of the News 4 team since September of 2023. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter.
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