Town manager Joe Martin told the Town Council at last night’s meeting that Verona’s cost for the Halloween weekend snowstorm has now hit $600,000. “It is the most expensive storm in Verona history” Martin said. Martin’s previous estimate for the storm cost was $500,000.
The cost includes $100,000 in debris removal and disposal and $107,000 for overtime. Martin did not enumerate the remaining spending which would be close to $400,000. The $600,000 total does not include the cost of replacing the more than 500 trees damaged and destroyed during the storm.
Verona has been working to cover as much of its costs as possible out of its current operating budget. But the council passed a resolution last night for an emergency appropriation of $382,000 that will be provided for from the surplus in current budget, but raised in the 2012 budget.
Martin told the council that, because our area has been declared a disaster zone, he expects that $400,000 of the $600,000 we have spent could be eligible for disaster cost reimbursement from the state. However, we would likely only get 70% of the $400,000 or $280,000, because of state funding patterns. The state, which has been fighting its own budget battles, has not yet said how it intends to aid towns affected by the October storm. It also has not yet issued reimbursement for the costs Verona incurred during Hurricane Irene.
