On Monday, the Florida Department of Emergency Management announced that $13 million has been awarded to the town for specific projects to help recover from Hurricane Ian.
The funding includes an $8 million grant for beach renourishment and a $5 million 0% loan the town will have to pay back to the state.
The town had requested a total of $24 million for all of its projects that are estimated to cost a total of $60 million to complete. FEMA will also be contributing funds to the town to help cover those additional costs.
Mayor Dan Allers said during the Monday Town Council meeting that the $5 million will start the town on the projects listed below and they plan to go back to Tallahassee later this month to request more funds from the next state budget.
Here are the specific projects the town must use the $5 million for:
A&E Services
Beach Access Repairs
Restoration of Stormwater Swale Repair
Assessment for an Island wide dredging
Road Repairs
Bay Oaks Recreation
Road sign replacement
Community Pool
South Pump Station Repairs
Estero Island Sea Wall and outfalls
Stormwater System
Mooring Field Repairs
Time Square Repairs
North Pump station
Town Hall Replacement
North Pump station repairs
Town Hall Temporary Facility
Pump Station Replacement
Last week the state awarded $14 million to the Fort Myers Beach Fire District. It was part of a distribution to municipalities impacted by Hurricane Ian from a fund of $338 million. The municipalities on the list below do not have to pay back the money.
On September 28, 2022, Fire Station 31 was damaged beyond repair by the devastating effects of storm surge and wind. Fire Chief Scott Wirth says $9 million will be allocated to relocating and replacing this fire station. “Through tax rebates in the current year and reduced valuations for the upcoming year, the fire district has experienced losses in revenue of approximately $7.5 million. The remaining $5 million awarded by the Governor will be used to offset the reduction in ad valorem revenue for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 budget years.”
The State has More INCOME than even they could spend. Hopefully , FMB will get what we need to rebuild . Fortunate that the state is in an excellent position to Support/ Help FMB in 2024
Well that sucks. Why so little?
This is just one of many “buckets” of funding.
As the mayor noted in today’s council meeting, the Town has received SIGNIFICANT funds from state and federal sources. While he didn’t know the full total, he said FMB received $200mil just for debris removal.