Hurricane Irma expenses in Manatee County to hike over $50 million

Hurricane Irma brought wind, rain and a lot of questions that didn’t have definite answers. When will the electricity come back? When will the yard waste be picked up? How much is this going to cost?

Three weeks have passed since the storm brought winds whipping up to 92 mph, and various public entities within Manatee County continue to tabulate expenses.

As the numbers begin to roll in, Irma so far is expected to cost more than $50.5 million, with many unknowns still out there.

By the numbers

For assistance purposes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, policy divides expenses into seven categories: “debris removal”; “emergency protective measures”; “roads and bridges”; “water control facilities”; “buildings and equipment”; “utilities”; and “parks, recreational, other.”

Manatee County government submitted initial expense estimates to the state Thursday, running the bill up to $37 million so far. The most costly portion is debris cleanup, for which it could cost $27 million to clear about 1 million cubic yards. There isn’t a clear timeline of when the waste will be hauled away,

The restoration of parks and other recreational facilities could cost $6.5 million, and employee overtime is estimated at $768,000.

Separate of that, the School District of Manatee County has submitted a preliminary estimate of $1,073,000 in expenditures to the county, which includes things like debris removal and equipment.

But it’s still a guessing game for how much overtime will be needed for district employees who worked at shelters during the hurricane and cleaned up the mess that was left behind.

“Everybody who worked in a shelter had to fill out detailed sheets of when they were there, what they were doing, when they took breaks,” school district spokesman Mike Barber said.

Officials are still collecting time sheets because some employees didn’t fill them out completely, while others didn’t fill out any at all.

“Everybody’s responsible for keeping their own times,” Barber said.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is expected to request $620,000 to cover overtime costs.

“We don’t know if we’ll get it all, but we certainly hope to,” sheriff’s office spokesman Dave Bristow said.

The greenhouse at the county jail’s inmate farm was damaged, as well as the fish farm’s pumps and filters, Bristow said. The estimated cost of repairs is $22,600.

The city of Bradenton’s early estimates include eventual debris cleanup, which is calculated at almost $10 million alone. Debris is the biggest unknown for all municipalities at this point, as clean up is either in its beginning stages or delayed throughout the county. FEMA will reimburse the cities and county, but only up to 80 percent of the cost.

Other storm-related personnel expenses price total $422,650, including $4,000 in overtime costs for administrative staff and $62,000 in overtime for firefighters. These estimates do not yet include costs for police officers and public works employees, which the city is still compiling.

Public works has $125,000 in expenses for equipment and supplies, $6,500 for fire department equipment and supplies and $150 for administrative equipment. An additional $670,000 will be spent on infrastructure damaged by the storm, including $115,000 for a water main repair, $175,000 for a sewer force line repair, $325,000 for a lift station pipe repair and pumping, $25,000 in damage to an aquifer storage recovery well and $30,000 to repair a traffic signal.

North of the Manatee River in Palmetto, the city’s total expenditures thus far is about $94,000, mostly in personnel expenses. Public Works costs were $25,217 and overtime for police officers was $58,000. The city also incurred $10,266 for equipment and supplies.

Jim Freeman, Palmetto’s city clerk, said all of the labor was for overtime associated with the storm.

“The equipment and supplies were items taken out of inventory to deal with storm issues,” Freeman said.

Anna Maria Island has some sizable expenses as well.

Holmes Beach incurred $39,000 of Irma-related costs thus far, with $13,640 already paid for debris cleanup, “with a lot more coming,” said Treasurer Lori Hill.

Police and code enforcement totaled 398 hours of overtime, or $15,500 in salaires. Public works registered just $1,800 in overtime costs and city paid out $8,200 for the purchase of sand, sandbags and propane, and repairs made to channel markers and pilings.

Bradenton Beach’s largest expense was for police overtime, at $6,009 for 10 officers. Administration costs were $200 in overtime for two deputy clerks who followed evacuation protocol by securing all city files to be evacuated from city hall. The city’s planning department and public works incurred no storm-related expenses.

“We were able to accomplish all of our goals during regular business hours so the employees would have time to handle their personal concerns during their normal time off,” said Public Works Director Tom Woodard. “No special storm supplies or equipment was needed.”

The city of Anna Maria was just beginning to document costs and was unable to immediately respond with information. One of the big costs will include repairing the Anna Maria City Pier, expected to be closed for at least a year.

As of Thursday, 21,539 households in Manatee County have registered for disaster assistance from FEMA, according to media relations specialist David Burns.

Statewide, approximately 1.9 million households have sought federal aid after Irma, and nearly 8,000 people are staying in transitional sheltering. Manatee County residents have until Oct. 7 meet with FEMA representatives for disaster help.

“Our goal is to get out there as fast as possible, but we want to be realistic,” Burns said.

Lessons learned

The big question of what went right and what went wrong during Irma won’t be answered until at least Monday, during a reflective meeting of county department heads to look at what county administrator Ed Hunzeker said was “the good, the bad and the ugly.”

“Down the road, we will have a conversation with the community,” Hunzeker said Friday.

A few things struck him as issues to resolve, including making sure first responders are fed and their families are safe and the amount of shelters the county has.

“We have a shortage of shelters in the community and need more,” he said. Twenty-four shelters, capable of holding a little more than 35,000, opened up to more than 25,000 people. There was a mandatory evacuation for those who live in Zone A and voluntary evacuation for residents in Zone B.

Hunzeker was the Osceola County administrator in 2004, when Charley, Frances and Jeanne “crisscrossed the county in rapid fire order.” He spent nearly a month and a half in their emergency operations center, he said. Charley brought the winds, and Frances and Jeanne lingered with the rain.

Their government spent around the same for debris cleanup as Manatee County is expected to with Irma.

“This was the most massive storm I’ve ever been involved in,” Hunzeker said.

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Hurricane Irma expenses in Manatee County to hike over $50 million."