As the tropics begin to heat up in coming weeks, the folks at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be in the spotlight again, ready to help those hit by a hurricane, but also ready to be knocked around by elected officials for not doing enough to help in the wake of a major natural disaster.
After watching FEMA for many years, the agency is almost in a no-win position; if they rush aid to areas hit by a hurricane, invariably there will be waste, fraud and abuse when it comes to individual disaster relief.
But there also can be troubles with aid delivered directly to state and local governments - and if you take the time to leaf through a series of reports from the internal inspectors at FEMA, it's obvious that a lot of federal disaster relief money gets paid out to cities and counties, but isn't being used to the letter of the law.
Just the titles of a few reports from the inspector general's office that covers FEMA should tell the story:
+ FEMA Should Recover $951,221 of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Palm Beach County, Florida – Hurricane Jeanne
+ FEMA Should Recover $401,046 of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida — Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne
+ FEMA Should Recover $4.1 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Orlando Utilities Commission — Hurricane Charley
+ FEMA Should Recover $3.5 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the City of Gautier, Mississippi - Hurricane Katrina
+ FEMA Should Recover $3.2 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the Moss Point School District - Hurricane Katrina
+ FEMA Should Recover $6.7 Million of Ineligible or Unused Funds Awarded to Cameron Parish, Louisiana, for Hurricane Rita
+ FEMA Should Recover $894,764 of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the Town of Dauphin Island, Alabama – Hurricane Katrina
+ FEMA Should Recover $5.3 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the University of Southern Mississippi – Hurricane Katrina
You get the picture.
The FEMA reports are filled with classic combat between bureaucratic organizations, as the feds claim cities and counties didn't properly account for how disaster relief money was spent, while the cities and counties say that's not the case.
For example, in a report from last year, FEMA said the city of Orlando, Florida should not have had the feds pick up the tab on $51,951 in spending on a series of small projects in the wake of Hurricane Jeanne.
What was wrong with the money that went to repair public buildings and park/recreational facilities?
FEMA said the city of Orlando already had insurance on those properties, and cited federal law: "Section 312 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended, prohibits the use of public assistance funds for damages covered by insurance."
One FEMA report from November of last year found that the feds overpaid Dauphin Island, Alabama for damage after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike; one charge included $875 to repair a volleyball court in a park.
But, the report indicated that "officials told us that the park did not include a volleyball court prior to hurricanes Gustav or Ike."
Last month, three reports spotlighted disaster aid spending by Palm Beach County, Florida, concluding that the county should pay back the feds for about $7.5 million in disaster relief from Hurricanes, Jeanne, Wilma and Frances.
Among the examples given by FEMA, the reports said Palm Beach County did not have documents to support $416,529 in spending, along with $461,366 in costs that were ineligible for federal aid from Hurricane Jeanne.
In a review of spending after Hurricane Wilma, investigators found that Palm Beach County had $3 million in "questionable costs," as the county couldn't even supply documents to support $2.2 million in spending.
"However,the County could not provide payroll records,time and attendance records, and equipment activity logs to support the amount claimed because it had destroyed the records," the FEMA report stated.
The story was the same after Hurricane Frances, as FEMA found Palm Beach County had spent federal disaster grants on $1.6 million of "questionable costs."
"The County claimed $765,586 under Project 8079 for vehicles and equipment (pickup trucks, flatbeds, trailers, generators, etc.) used by County employees in repair work completed by the water utilities department," the report said, but noted there were no "equipment activity logs" to back up the claim.
You can sift through some of the IG reports on FEMA here.
It will be a reminder that as hurricane season gets into high gear, the feds are still fighting about disaster relief money spent on storms that washed ashore years ago.
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