Since Hurricane Helene hit Burke County as a tropical storm, the county’s bills have started to rack up.
The county hired a hauling service to pick up storm debris throughout the county. The estimated cost of debris removal is $3 million to $5 million, Burke County Manager Brian Epley said. The county will likely start getting billed for the service in the next month.
Another expense: County employees have worked overtime on storm-related issues. There are 156 county employees working on storm management who have been working 18 hours a day doing regular jobs in addition to storm management, Epley said. The team has worked at least 12 days straight without a day off.
The county also bought supplies such as ice and generators that failed because of flooding.
The county may get some of those expenses reimbursed by FEMA, Epley said. To get those reimbursements, the county is looking to contract with a firm to guide it through the process.
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The county is seeking bids for comprehensive disaster recovery management services. The county would work with the service for up to three years, with two additional one-year optional renewal periods. The closing date for the bid requests is Oct. 24, according to county documents.
“The FEMA process for us may go on for two years,†Epley said.
He said there are so many things to consider when it comes to getting reimbursed for storm damage, including tracking time county staff spend working on the storm, debris removal, all the emergency response and administrative work.
Epley said there are a variety of applications the county has to fill out on the FEMA website, be approved, and then go through a complicated process of submitting invoices for reimbursement. Many counties impacted by the storm will go through the process, Epley said.
“There are a tremendous amount of regulatory compliance metrics that have to be done appropriately to ensure that we govern, rebuild the right way and remain whole financially for what we do,†Epley said. “And so this RFP will allow us to onboard (a firm) who’s an expert in this industry, who can advise us on what’s in our best interest, and then anything we pay to them contractually we also can file reimbursement for it. We expect to get that back.â€