The municipal budget for 2013 still has not been brought to the council because the state is requiring all municipalities along the shoreline to submit FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] applications prior to approving budgets, city manager Terence Reidy said.
There are three different categories for FEMA applications, and one of those categories could impact the budget, Reidy said. This category involves reimbursement for lost revenue for a municipality if five percent or more of the anticipated revenue was lost due to the storm, Reidy said.
The city’s parking revenue could be an area where revenue fell short for this year, he said. This year, the city has already lost several hundred thousand dollars in parking revenue.
The city was inspected over the course of two days in March, Reidy said, and officials required them to file applications with FEMA. The city has filed the appropriate applications. As soon as the DCA [Department of Community Affairs] reviews the applications, the budget will be introduced, Reidy said.
The city’s revenue is down, Reidy said, and this is likely because of Hurricane Sandy. FEMA will look to ensure that the discrepancy between anticipated and actual revenue is indeed because of the storm. If FEMA does not reimburse the city for lost revenue, the city can apply for community development block grant [CDBG] funds, Reidy said.
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[Photo shows damage from the storm on Deal Lake Drive on Oct. 30, 2012.]
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