Santa Barbara County has spent about $46 million in emergency response, repairs and recovery work for the Thomas Fire and Jan. 9 Montecito debris flows, and about $35.6 million of that should be reimbursable from federal and state agencies, officials said Tuesday.
Most of the reimbursement claims will be for debris removal and rebuilding damaged infrastructure, according to the county.
Assistant County Executive Officer Jeff Frapwell told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that it could take several years for the Federal Emergency Management Administration and California Office of Emergency Services to reimburse the county for its emergency spending.
The supervisors voted to transfer $6.25 million from the strategic reserve fund to the Sheriff’s Department and Office of Emergency Management to help cover costs until the county is reimbursed for its emergency expenses.
Other departments and special revenue funds were also affected, and the county will come back to the board with another cost estimate in March, Frapwell said.
There are other department costs that are not considered reimbursable, including $3.26 million of Sheriff Department expenses.
When Supervisor Das Williams asked why, Frapwell said regularly scheduled staff hours spent on a disaster are usually not reimbursed, while overtime hours are.
The Office of Emergency Management will contract with two outside firms to help with the cost-recovery process, he added.
Tax revenue losses are another financial impact to the county coffers, with an estimate that discretionary general revenues could drop $2.8 million in the current fiscal year and $3.1 million in the next fiscal year, compared to the five-year forecast.
The $46 million county estimate does not include costs for other responding agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Caltrans, special districts, and CalFire, which estimated the 281,893-acre Thomas Fire suppression cost at more than $177 million.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded $43 million in contracts for Santa Barbara County debris removal as of Jan. 30, including work clearing out debris basins and creek channels.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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