Fla.’s Generator, Chainsaw Reimbursement Program Could Be Axed

Florida officials are scrutinizing a state program which reimburses residents for last-minute purchases of generators, chain saws and other hurricane-related purchases and considering eliminating it, because according to Craig Fugate, director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, the program rewards those unprepared for the storms.

“The intent of the program was not to provide you a generator for free,” Fugate told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “We don’t want fraud and waste in our programs. We don’t want our dollars not going to the intended victims or the intended purposes.”

Fugate suggests Floridians should be encouraged to be prepared ahead of time through incentives such as a sales tax exemption on generators. The state offered a sales tax holiday last year for hurricane preparedness.

Florida also is exploring whether local governments, using federal money, could loan generators to poor residents with medical needs or disabilities, Fugate said. “It seems to me if we’re really looking at how to meet the needs of disaster victims … getting power back to people at greatest risk certainly is good public policy,” he said.

The Sun-Sentinel reported last month that more than 300,000 Floridians got generators and the other clean-up items paid for by taxpayers the past two hurricane seasons. The cost has now reached $344 million. The Federal Emergency Management Agency runs the reimbursement program, but the state pays 25 percent.

As of Thursday, FEMA had distributed $102 million in reimbursements just for Hurricane Wilma, which struck Oct. 24. Most reimbursement money went to middle- and upper-income areas of Florida, while poor residents, including some with life-threatening ailments, went without power because they couldn’t afford generators, the Sun-Sentinel found.

In response, some South Florida members of Congress denounced the program, calling it a waste of money.

The magnitude of the four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004, along with hurricanes Wilma and Dennis this year, exposed inefficiencies and flaws in the policy, Fugate acknowledged.

He said his office is preparing recommendations for changes for Gov. Jeb Bush. The governor commented in December that the reimbursement program is “flawed.”

After Wilma, South Floridians shopped for items on the FEMA reimbursement list, telling the newspaper they were buying because FEMA was paying. The newspaper found doctors, lawyers and other professionals who applied for FEMA reimbursement, including a Fort Lauderdale builder who bought a generator to chill his wine collection.

In dozens of cases, residents told the Sun-Sentinel that FEMA reimbursed them more than they paid for generators and other items.

FEMA officials initially said the overpayments were an exception. Last week, after the Sun-Sentinel found that 99 percent of the generator claims approved for Wilma were for the maximum $836, FEMA issued a statement saying, “We’re going to fix it.”

Fugate stressed that the program “was never meant or designed to be an entitlement program for people to get generators.”

“The original intent and purpose is to get people assistance so they can meet their own needs without having to go to a shelter,” he said.

Topics Florida Hurricane