HOT SPRINGS — The Federal Emergency Management Agency has turned down a request from Garland County to recover some labor costs associated with the 2012 Christmas Day ice storm.
County Judge Rick Davis sent a letter last month to Region VI Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Tony Robinson asking FEMA to reconsider the reimbursement amounts it approved for the $672,136 the county spent removing debris. The communication, dated July 10, was also sent to state and federal legislators and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management officials.
FEMA approved $504,940, which doesn’t include what the letter stipulates was $91,218 for county workers’ regular-time labor.
The county was declared a federal disaster area Jan. 29, 2013, the same day the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act was signed into law. It authorized a pilot program reimbursing states and local governments for regular-time labor associated with disaster cleanup.
Reimbursements had previously been applied only to overtime hours, according to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, which administers the state’s FEMA reimbursements.
Garland County policy prohibits overtime pay. Employees who work in excess of their regular hours receive additional time off. The arrangement limited the county’s federal labor reimbursement to $756.
FEMA spokesman Earl Armstrong said the Public Assistance Alternative Procedures Pilot Program was first used after the May 2013 tornadoes in Oklahoma and took effect nationwide the next month. He said the enabling legislation doesn’t include a provision for retroactive reimbursement.