St. Pete’s municipal storm costs top $247 million

The City of St. Petersburg incurred at least $247.3 million in costs associated with Hurricanes Helene and Milton, with over half stemming from debris collection efforts.

Administrators believe they will, eventually, have the funding necessary to foot the bill through various sources. However, the city still awaits a $3 million reimbursement from Hurricane Ian in 2022.

City Council members received a comprehensive report on estimated storm damage costs Thursday morning at a committee meeting. Chair Copley Gerdes said St. Petersburg has “the flexibility to figure this out, unlike some surrounding municipalities.

“This is going to define, in my opinion, the future of the financial picture in St. Petersburg,” Gerdes said. “This is going to be a large part of it – how we do this and how we handle it.”

Damaged city-owned property requiring Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) permanent work site inspections include Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue’s headquarters, the St. Pete Pier, the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina, the Lake Vista Recreation Center, the Northeast Wastewater Reclamation Facility, the Port of St. Petersburg and dozens of sewage lift stations.

Documents show that the city must complete emergency repairs associated with Helene and Milton by March and April, respectively, to receive FEMA reimbursement. Officials have an additional year to conclude permanent work.

The cost for debris removal is $125.8 million, with Milton accounting for about 89% of the total. The city also has an estimated $113.4 million in permanent facility damage and spent $8.1 million on protective measures.

“The total sum of all the resources we identified exceeds the projected expenses by about $19.4 million,” said Tom Greene, assistant city administrator. “That’s because we know expenses are likely to go up.”

To date, the city has received a $37 million debris collection advance from FEMA, a $50 million disaster note it must repay with interest – with general funds – and a $3.2 million insurance payment. Notably, officials expect to receive a $7.65 million insurance advance for Tropicana Field.

They also plan to receive another $88 million from FEMA for debris removal and emergency protective measures. The agency will cover 100% of those costs once the city meets its requirements. Administrators have not estimated future insurance payouts.

However, they have identified $78.4 million in departmental resources available, including worker’s compensation, to support storm costs. Greene said the city has a “75% confidence level” that those funds can support recovery without consequence.

“I think this is also a testimony to the city council and your leadership over the years that we have these fund balances,” said Administrator Rob Gerdes. “We’ve talked about our fiscal strength in the past, and it is really important that we have this money available.”

The city has already appropriated over $58 million for several projects. The largest immediate expenditures outside of debris removal ($39.3 million) are Tropicana Field ($8.3 million), the 5^th Avenue NE seawall ($3.6 million) and two stormwater drainage projects ($3.3 million).

Erika Langhans, director of budget and management, said FEMA would reimburse 75% of permanent damage costs. The state will provide 12.5%, and the city is on the hook for the remaining 12.5%.

Langhans said St. Petersburg would ultimately only pay $14 million of its $274 million in storm costs, provided all goes according to plan. Gerdes noted the city would also receive $160 million in federal hurricane recovery funding if it follows U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) procedures and “we do our work properly,”

FEMA may not reimburse the city for its Hometown Haulers initiative, something officials knew before launching the program. However, Greene said enlisting residents to remove debris after Helene rather than accepting competitive bids helped make the community safer before Milton.

He credited the workforce and economic development team for photographing the work and compiling data. Greene said FEMA and state officials were “impressed with the creativity” and the “risk we took.”

“With the delta being $14 million and the possibility of $1.5 million not being reimbursed – the Hometown Haulers program was totally worth it,” Council Chair Gerdes said. “That $1.5 million was worth 20 times that in the community.”

Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz noted the city still awaits reimbursements for Hurricanes Irma (2017 – $140,000), Ian (2022 – $3.07 million) and Idalia (2023 – $1.5 million). Administrator Gerdes said the “relationships we’ve had with the federal government and the state on this storm has been better than any other storm.”

“What we’ve learned is, whoever has the most significant damage gets the most handholding from the Feds and the state,” he added.