Irene’s Price Tag: $600,000 and Climbing

Did you know it cost the town $4,377 to move a fire hydrant on Linden Avenue after Irene so traffic could be re-directed away from the ?

It’s also going to cost the town near $250,000 for expenses incurred during and after Irene at the sewage treatment plant. Branford’s Finance Department Head Jim Finch, said, “I can’t tell you what I think it’s going to be,” of the final cost of the storm, but added, he's confident it will be more than the approximate $600,000 he requested from the Board of Finance at last week’s meeting.

“It’s important to recognize,” he said, “that the money piece is still evolving.”

The two biggest concerns, said Finch, are the high-price-tag-expenditures like Linden Avenue (including the roadway, slope and wall) and the sewage treatment plant.

Linden Avenue is expected to cost more than $300,000. The sewage treatment plant, Finch’s numbers explain, will cost more than $250,000, which includes almost $28,000 in pump-out service when the plant was not working properly.

The preliminary numbers released by Finch show the town incurred $19,931.28 in fuel expense in one account and another $ 8,459.77 in fuel cost in another account. A lot of that fuel was burned in the town’s 28 generators that ran throughout the one-week power outage, including a 600 KVW generator placed at the sewage treatment plant. The town’s  fuel consumption was about 4,000 gallons of gas per day during lights out.

The break down of who pays what, Finch explained, will be split between FEMA and town insurance at 65 percent and local share absorbing the remainder.

For example, the Public Works Department costs for Branford are preliminarily, $71,748; $46,636 could be reimbursed and the town will have to pay $25,112.

The total Irene cost “local share” estimated by Finch could be $217,453, but that number is also expected to rise, he said. FEMA and insurance costs, stated Finch in the preliminary estimate will cover $403,841 of Irene’s expected $621,295 estimated price tag; $150,000 will be covered by town contingency leaving an initial shortfall of $67,453. Finch said $88,637 available in the sewer treatment fund will leave Branford in the black, $21,184.

The big key here is the FEMA aid, said Finch who noted FEMA is due to meet with town officials on Thursday, so check back for details.

The cost of Irene was no surprise to Finch who wrote to the Board of Finance and Town Department Heads on Sept. 8. He stated:

As we are all aware Hurricane Irene was a severe weather event causing significant damage to public and private property.  The town operated under a state of emergency for a number of days and the costs associated with the preparation and response as well as recovery efforts are expected to be significant.

He informed the recipients that he would be creating a separate fund to track revenues and expenditures of the storm in a separate account, rather than in the town’s general fund.

So far, Finch has requested just the $150,000 from town contingency for Irene in anticipation that FEMA will not cover enough of what the town needs for relief but noted in his letter, “…depending on the size and scope of the capital needs bond authorizations may be required.”

Finch also noted that an ongoing expense is tree cleaning and the total cost of that project is still unknown. Getting the BOF to approve his initial report, said Finch was the first step to tracking Irene’s running tab. “Let’s not keep spending money,” he said, “without appropriations.”