FEMA slashes $33 million in St. Pete resiliency projects
Two critical infrastructure projects in St. Petersburg are now in limbo due to the presidential administration’s death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach to federal agencies.
Documents obtained by the Catalyst show the city requested $33.82 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding through its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. Director Cameron Hamilton killed the “wasteful, politicized” initiative April 4.
St. Petersburg planned to use the money, frozen since the president took office in January, to storm-harden sewage lift stations citywide and mitigate tidal flooding in its lowest-lying neighborhood. Officials have warned residents that additional programs – and the entire agency – are also on the chopping block.
“I see nothing about hardening and protecting our city, for generations to come, as political,” said Councilmember Brandi Gabbard. “I don’t see that as wasteful in any way, shape or form.”
The BRIC initiative funds local projects that protect against natural disasters. It began in 2020, during the president’s first administration.
FEMA has awarded $5 billion in grants through the congressionally established program, which typically covers 75% of a project’s cost. Canceling $882 billion in previously planned awards is the latest in a series of blows to the agency.
In March, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “We’re going to eliminate FEMA.” The agency has stopped funding projects previously approved for BRIC grants, including those underway.
In a prepared statement, a FEMA spokesperson called BRIC “another example of a wasteful and ineffective” agency initiative. “It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”
Gabbard, a staunch advocate for bolstering St. Petersburg’s resiliency, said that sentiment is “completely inaccurate.” She noted that increasing climate threats lack party affiliation.
She said the city’s devastating 2024 hurricane season and nationwide natural disasters proved that protecting citizens from extreme weather events is not wasteful. Gabbard believes arbitrarily cutting federal programs without consideration of local impacts is an “uneducated and inexperienced response.”
St. Petersburg requested $13 million for a $17.1 million lift station project. The machinery channels storm and wastewater to treatment facilities and prevents overflows.
BRIC funding would have helped safeguard the equipment citywide. Officials recently purchased an AquaFence flood barrier to protect a downtown lift station from inundation.
Administrators also requested $20.82 million for a $27.33 million backflow preventer and pump station project in flood-prone Shore Acres. Those keep sea, storm and wastewater from inundating overwhelmed drainage systems.
Gabbard said the infrastructure is “very effective” at mitigating the effects of severe high tides and rainy-day flooding. The city prioritized those projects amid increasing environmental impacts. They must now “go back to the drawing board, when it comes to funding.”
Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, a longtime environmental resiliency advocate, represents coastal neighborhoods in northeast St. Petersburg. Photo by Mark Parker.
Gabbard “would have loved” if FEMA’s leadership had consulted with communities that rely on BRIC grants before terminating the program. She believes there “could have been a better path forward.”
According to the agency’s announcement, approximately $882 million in BRIC funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will return to the U.S. Treasury. Congress could also reallocate the money in 2026.
City documents state that staff recently submitted eight applications for another FEMA initiative on behalf of storm victims. However, the presidential administration also removed a notice announcing $600 million in awards through the agency’s long-standing Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Grant program.
“While we have not received formal notice of FMA cancellation, staff sent the attached communication to residents with pending FMA applications, encouraging them to apply to the state’s Elevate Florida program …,” wrote Aubrey Phillips, director of strategic initiatives and grants, in an April 10 email.
Gabbard said officials have proactively tried to update storm-weary residents on the federal chaos. That is a challenging proposition, given the surrounding uncertainty.
Gabbard wants constituents to understand the city’s limitations when government partners cut funding, leaving local officials with fewer resources to “address the millions and billions of dollars we need in infrastructure improvements.”
Many stakeholders, including Gabbard, agree that FEMA should streamline processes, eliminate bureaucratic red tape and more efficiently respond to natural disasters. She also realizes that destroying the agency is not a solution and will only harm the average American.
“So, when I start to see some glimmer of hope that the administration is looking at it in a much more diligent way, then I can start to feel a little bit more optimistic,” Gabbard added. “But for right now, all I can feel is concern.”
Michael Mayo
April 19, 2025at1:58 pm
Mr. Parker, you should remind your readers that it was Councilmember Gabbard who pushed hard earlier this year to impose a highly controversial “blanket” code enforcement action on certain neighborhoods impacted by the Hurricane Helene storm surge, including N.E. Park (an area that has flooded just once in the nearly 30 years since I’ve owned a home here). This code enforcement action was imposed, in part, to appease FEMA. Now, FEMA (the federal government) has turned around and stuck it hard to our community. While I’m certainly not pleased with the policies and incompentent “leadership” coming out of our nation’s Capitol, and I am equally unimpressed with St. Petersburg city leadership. While hard-working and well-meaning, Gabbard is clueless and highly ineffectual – just like the Mayor (who should NOT be re-elected).
Paul Krauledis
April 17, 2025at7:25 pm
How delusional are you people.
There’s no way the Trump administration is going to help and DeSantis can paint all the roses pictures he wants that Florida will fine but it won’t be.
Just remember you all voted for this.
Donna Davis
April 17, 2025at6:20 pm
There must ways to leverage existing city and county surplus funds to bridge gaps left by lapses in state and federal funding. This could also be a good time to stop handing out tax breaks and start making sure wealthier residents and bigger area businesses are paying their fair share.
Bradley cochran
April 17, 2025at3:52 pm
That’s a gamble. If something goes wrong, we’ll end up paying a lot more to fix it later…
Julia Burke
April 17, 2025at2:41 pm
Obviously there’s lots to say on all of this…but on top of everything, to snatch back funding that was already PROMISED is truly unconscionable.
Lucas stone
April 17, 2025at1:42 pm
The government slashes $33 million from vital projects, and Dump Duke thinks handing the grid to the government is the answer? Absolute madness!
tont
April 17, 2025at8:19 am
get the money from all the wealthy people buying up downtown st pete. Why should the rest of the country be on the hook for it
Velva Lee Heraty
April 17, 2025at12:16 am
Flashback to the politicized closing of the Southeast Water Treatment Plant by the former administration. Worse decision ever and approved by council members.
Steve D
April 16, 2025at7:00 pm
The question remains: Why should taxpayers in places which don’t suffer these disasters pay the tab for those who do?
(BTW James, the world’s top billionaire will pay the largest US federal tax bill in history, amongst others:
https://fee.org/articles/freeloading-elon-musk-to-pay-largest-federal-tax-bill-in-history-an-estimated-83-billion/
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
April 16, 2025at6:49 pm
Aretha Franklin said it ‘Ain’t No Way’. There is an out of control leader in the Whitehouse. His staff are ‘robots’ and do Not have an original thought. We must change things by voting smarter for leadership in All areas.
JAMES GILLESPIE
April 16, 2025at3:25 pm
We have proof from three hurricanes and climate change that we are vulnerable and subject to real damage and loss of life. St. Pete has serious infrastructure needs, to the extent that many are wary of what this hurricane season will bring. The city can’t pay the whole bill, but could the city have started upgrades years earlier? Council member Gabbard is on target with her comments about the arbitrary Trump administration fund reductions. Florida Republican congress members should back the city on such issues and press Trump to let FEMA work. Good luck restoring the necessary funds. How about taxes on billionaires as a start?