Manatee County will pay a fraction of hurricane recovery costs

As recovery costs continue to rise in Manatee County following hurricanes Helene and Milton, the county's reserves are being tapped. 

However, Chief Financial Officer Sheila McLean said the county has long been preparing for “a rainy day.” 

“That rainy day has come, and we’re in a really good place,” she told commissioners Nov. 19.

McClean, along with Director of Utilities Patrick Shea, updated the commission on the cost and state of recovery since Milton, which made landfall near Siesta Key on Oct. 9. 

Hurricane Helene landed just weeks earlier on Sept. 26. The back-to-back hurricanes left behind over $121 million in damages in unincorporated Manatee County. Assessments are ongoing, so the numbers could still rise, but Manatee County’s responsibility is estimated at just under $34 million. 

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Over 70% of the damage costs will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and McLean anticipates that an approximately $33 million chunk of that reimbursement will be arriving within the week. 

After Helene, Manatee County qualified for every category from A-G of FEMA reimbursement. After Milton, the county qualified for expedited reimbursement, too. 

Expedited payments cover 50% of costs in categories A and B. Category A covers debris removal; Category B covers emergency protective measures, which include staging equipment prior to a hurricane and rescue operations after. 

The remaining categories fall under "permanent work," which covers the restoration of roads, bridges, utilities and other critical facilities to pre-disaster conditions.

Debris removal is timed on a ticking clock. FEMA will reimburse the county up to 100% for the first 90 days following Hurricane Milton. The target date is Jan. 11, but Shea said a request has been made to extend that time period to 180 days. 

He called the extension request “maybe unlikely,” but noted that FEMA still reimburses past 90 days, just at 75% instead of 100%. 

Commissioner Jason Bearden, who lives in Lakewood Ranch, had concerns about the impact of debris on the Lena Road Landfill. Deputy Director Chris Collins said it wouldn’t be “massively significant,” but he’d know better come January. 

“Every January, we do a life expectancy report on the landfill,” Collins said. “It involves a flyover and calculations with our engineering consultant to determine the lifespan.” 

He said that a year ago, the landfill was expected to remain open through 2059. He proffered a guess that about a year would’ve been lost from this season’s hurricane activity.

The county-contracted haulers are transporting debris outside of Manatee County. Shea explained that while Lena Road is a nonprofit landfill, there are plenty of for-profit landfills that are willing to take on that amount of debris. 

Only residents and the contractors residents have hired are dumping at the Lena Road landfill. 

As of Nov. 20, over 1.7 million cubic yards of debris had been hauled away. Shea said one cubic yard is about the size of a dishwasher. By the debris hauler’s estimate, the total amount of debris hauled will end up between 2.5 and 3 million cubic yards. 

There are nine debris management sites throughout the county. One of the larger sites is located on Post Boulevard near the Premier Sports Campus. That site is only holding vegetative and construction debris. 

Another site at Hidden Harbor Park is only processing sand. Out of an estimated $54,117,911 worth of damages that fall under the category of "permanent work," dealing with the sand alone is estimated to cost $12,664,270.

Sand that meets the safety standards of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will return to the beach. Sand that doesn't make the cut due to potential impurities can be repurposed. 

Ogden Clark, Public Works’ communications coordinator, said some of that leftover sand will end up underneath Upper Manatee River Road, which is currently being widened from two lanes to four. 

Residents are being encouraged to report their remaining piles of debris on the county’s extreme weather dashboard at MyManatee.org/storm. 

“(Debris haulers) are getting a little less efficient because the debris is more spread out,” Shea said,” But they’re able to respond to customer comments a lot quicker. Now, they’re really needing that information if there’s spots we’ve missed.”