Tuesday, Gov. Jim Doyle appealed the denied federal funding for Dane, Richland and Vernon Counties-regions hit hard by a series of tornadoes that ripped through the area in August.
Lori Getter, Wisconsin Emergency Management spokesperson, expressed serious consequences that would result from denied federal aid.
\In the three counties there was over $38 million in damage. That includes damage to agricultural losses, damages to individuals' homes and businesses, as well as impacts on local communities for their costs associated with the debris removal,"" Getter said.
She stated that because of the damage costs, the burden of damage may force the local government to increases taxes or cut services and benefits.
Additionally, Getter added that if Wisconsin citizens were to receive federal assistance, ""the local communities would receive 87.5 percent reimbursement for their approved or qualified cost.""
However, the Federal Emergency Management Agency responded and stood by its previous decision based on the Preliminary Damage Assessment formula. The PDA is used to ""determine if damages are insured, uninsured and which damages eligible or ineligible,"" a FEMA representative stated. FEMA also uses a set formula to determine per capita impact to the state-a threshold that must be met in order to receive assistance, FEMA said.
""The per capita threshold is $1.14/per capita/per person based on the population of the state of Wisconsin,"" FEMA explained. ""$1.14 times the number of people in Wisconsin has to meet that threshold for us to say that it's a very expensive disaster that the state and local resources can't probably pay for.""
FEMA stated that the denial of federal funding was not an arbitrary decision, but rather a decision reached by following the exact same formula as all other disasters.
""This event, the tornado damage which affected mainly Dane County and Richland County and some areas in Vernon County, the per capita state-wide damage was $0.58,"" FEMA reported.
Stephanie Lundberg, press secretary to U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., said, ""the need for additional assistance is still very great. Efforts to appeal FEMA's decision is supported by our office, and we'll be writing a letter with the entire Wisconsin delegation in support to add to the effort.""
According to FEMA, a Nov. 17 response to Doyle's appeal can be expected for Wisconsin.
