OROVILLE — Butte County’s woes with the Federal Emergency Management Agency continue, adding the need for additional contingency costs.
Paula Daneluk, Butte County’s director of development services, requested just north of $75,000 to offset a grant that would ultimately fund three county positions directly tied to wildfire recovery. This funding request was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
After the Camp Fire, the county applied for funding from the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program via the California Office of Emergency Services to pay for these positions over the course of three years. It wasn’t until 2021 that FEMA notified the county that the funds would come after an environmental review. As of Tuesday, the funding has yet to come.
Daneluk said her department was told last fall that the funding would be available in January 2024. At that time, the board voted to renew the three positions with the knowledge that the money was coming — but once again, it was pushed back.
“They have since changed their tune and have extended that out longer because of the necessary environmental work on the (environmental assessment),” Daneluk told the supervisors. “So we are here today to request a budget adjustment for the remainder of this fiscal year to allow for those positions, which we extended.”
According to the related agenda report, there is currently no timeline on when the county can expect to receive the funds, but Daneluk said the county has been communicating with both FEMA and CalOES.
“Our latest meeting with them was much more encouraging with their commitment to give us distinct timelines that we could then hold them accountable to as they continue to process these grant applications,” Daneluk said. “And it does look like funding will come through sometime in this calendar year but certainly not within this fiscal year.”
The positions, which include a rebuild advocate and building inspectors, will be terminated if the grant is not issued by June 30, 2024.
“These are very specialized positions,” Daneluk said. “These are extremely difficult to find qualified building inspectors and our rebuild advocate position is one that is very much tied to understanding the traumas and the experiences of people who have lost their homes in the various fires that we’ve had.”
In total, the board authorized $75,161 to be utilized from the general fund, specifically from the contingency fund which came to $8,947,044 after the budget adjustment was passed.
Daneluk said her initial budget planning for the 2024-25 fiscal year includes the positions but added that it depends on whether the FEMA money comes through in time.
Butte County Chief Administrative Officer Andy Pickett said, when the time comes to balance the budget, the positions will also be weighed against other county needs.
“This is part of the whole budgeting process, looking at what our outstanding needs are and what our resources are,” Pickett said. “So this is something that we’re grappling with right now as we put the budget together.
“At that time, when we make the recommendations, if we assume no revenue is coming in, we’ll have to look at this need versus what other needs exist and make the unfortunate recommendations that we have to sometimes make.”
