Tropical Storm Irene caused $7 million worth of damage to roads in the town of Halifax. The town, population 800, has an annual budget of $700,000.
State Rep. Ann Manwaring, D-Wilmington, represents Halifax. As she put it: “That's a cash flow problem.”
Since September, town officials had no choice but to rob Peter to pay Paul - that is to say, they've been using some property tax money slated for the state property tax education fund to pay $2 million to contractors for road repairs, according to Christina Moore, the town's project coordinator for the Irene recovery effort.
So far, the town has received a commitment for $55,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We had multiple roads removed from the map,” Moore said.
In recent weeks, since the town has tapped out of ready capital, it has had to put off paying private contractors for bridge, culvert, and road repair.
Moore and Patricia Dow, the clerk/treasurer of Halifax, breathed a sigh of relief when State Treasurer Beth Pearce announced that she would allow Irene-afflicted towns to defer payments to the education fund.
Dec. 1 is the deadline for payments; Pearce said the 40 to 50 municipalities that sustained significant damage as a result of the storm will have until Feb. 28 to remit money to the education fund.
Normally, towns incur an 8 percent penalty for late payments.
The education fund deferment is one of three steps the treasurer's office is taking to ease cash-flow problems for hard-hit towns.
Pearce said she would also send highway aid payments worth $6.4 million to municipalities on Nov. 23 - seven weeks before the state originally planned to make the disbursements.
In addition, $125 million in education payments to towns was also made available last week – about two weeks ahead of schedule.
The plan, which has been endorsed by the Shumlin administration, will need legislative approval.
Speaker of the House Shap Smith and Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell said they will introduce a narrowly written bill that addresses the education fund deferment.
The Legislature, though not in session yet, has already set the stage for other Irene-related legislation, including a $2 million to $4 million tax abatement plan for flood-afflicted towns.
The House Ways and Means committee unanimously approved the bill, and it will be one of the first items lawmakers address in January. Shumlin supports the measure.
“We know that municipalities faced economic pressure, and we need to do what we can to help them out,” Smith said. “This is a small measure to allow us to ensure towns can continue the task of rebuilding.”
This is the second time since the storm that the treasurer's office has stepped in to accelerate payments for town road work.
Pearce has also marshaled support from local banks and the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank, which are offering bridge loans at low interest rates and long-term borrowing capacity for towns.
Though the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to provide millions of dollars in public assistance reimbursements to towns, the money is contingent on review of project worksheets that municipal officials are, in many cases, still finalizing.
In the meantime, towns are anxious to get crucial road-work and public infrastructure projects finished, or at least under way.
Jeb Spaulding, secretary of the Agency of Administration, hailed the plan as “one more thing we can do to help the municipalities.”
At least a dozen of the 45 small towns that suffered severe impact by Irene have incurred more than $1 million worth of recovery expenses.
Wilmington has sustained $14 million worth of damage, mostly to downtown businesses, according to Manwaring, who is a resident of the town.