Politics & Government

Storms Irene and Alfred: Clean Up Costs Are In

Two devastating storms wreaked havoc with the town trees and funds.

 

 

 In 2011, Winter Storm Alfred and Tropical Storm Irene took a terrible toll on Bethel’s resources.  However, the town’s costs were significantly lower than they might have been, had an outside contractor been hired to clean up the town.  First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker said that Ashford, the company hired to clean up Danbury, “Gave us a cost of close to a million dollars.  By doing it ourselves, we saved hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

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 Knickerbocker said that the town utilized the Town Highway crews to clean up after the storms. Diverting the crews brought road repairs to a halt and the fall’s leaf collection was delayed.  However, Knickerbocker said that by keeping the clean-up “in-house”, the town’s costs were substantially less than anticipated.

The costs of Tropical Storm Irene, provided by the First Selectman, included contract, labor, equipment and administrative costs of $74,487.47.  Out of the total, $55,865 was reimbursed by FEMA. The total cost to the town of Bethel for TS Irene was $18,621.

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 Costs for Winter Storm Alfred were substantially higher.  The costs of debris removal, equipment, police overtime, fire department, supplies and shelter, food and barricades amounted to $460,727.69.  

 After reimbursements, the costs to Bethel for WS Alfred was $115,181.92.  

 The clean-ups were originally funded through the Town’s General Fund.  Knickerbocker said that it is an unstated policy to keep approximately 10 percent of the fund balance reserved.

 Knickerbocker said that most of the costs are now in, even though the power companies are still cleaning hanging tree branches away from the wires. “It will be a year before they are caught up,” Knickerbocker said. 


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