PARIS – Oxford and Franklin counties learned Friday that they are among nine Maine counties that will receive federal aid for an early December snowstorm.
President Bush made a formal disaster declaration Friday and word was transmitted to county emergency directors.
An e-mail arrived in assistant Franklin County Emergency Management Director Olive Toothaker’s mailbox about 4 p.m. informing her of the president’s decision.
Oxford County Emergency Management Agency Director Dan Schorr, who got the word about the same time, said the declaration was approved for the first snowstorm on Dec. 6-7.
“The state will organize a meeting set up with the towns and Maine Emergency Management Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency people,” Schorr said. “They’ll go over all the paperwork and towns will submit their costs.”
Toothaker said county towns are eligible to get reimbursed to compensate them for overtime, equipment, sand, snow removal and protective measures taken during the heavy snowfall.
She said areas in Franklin County received 30- to 40-plus inches of snow that weekend.
Schorr said the 36 towns in Oxford County would be eligible since they received between 20 to 30 inches of snow.
“The reason it was approved is that it exceeded the record snowfall for that date,” Schorr said. “The state looks at the snowfall and then puts in the request for emergency funds. Each town will then compute its costs and submit them to FEMA.
“The way it normally breaks down is that FEMA pays 75 percent of the towns’ costs,” he said.
Schorr said his office e-mailed the towns in Oxford County on Friday, instructing them to start collecting data.
Toothaker said some towns have already faxed in the forms needed to get reimbursed. Others have been waiting to see if the county was declared a disaster.
“It’s good news for the towns,” Toothaker said. “They’ll be able to recoup some of the money they spent during the storm.” She said she would be calling town officials on Tuesday, the next business day since Monday is a holiday, to make sure they get the information in.
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