Vt. communities still working out how to pay for flood repairs

CALAIS, Vt. (WCAX) – Municipalities across Vermont are working to cover the costs of repairing damage caused by the summer’s flooding. Calais is one of those communities.

There were unforgettable scenes of damage in Calais over the summer when a deluge of water from a broken culvert cut deep caverns in the town’s roads. But thanks to the tireless work of road crews over many months, they were finally able to get the roads in all the problem areas back in tip-top condition.

“The workers, we’re a small crew again, we’re still small, everybody kind of just pitched in and did what it took to get it done,” said John Stafford, a member of the Calais road crew.

We rode with Stafford the day he discovered the massive issues at Bliss Pond Road in Calais, one of about 30 roads that endured significant damage.

The Calais town administrator says they finished all the repairs last month. The price tag– $1.5 million.

The town is now going through the process with FEMA for reimbursement which they expect about 75% of the cost and more from the state.

They say they don’t expect any direct budgetary impacts, but getting the money could take a while.

“It could take many months to get all that back. So we are preparing for a cash flow crunch. And we’re going to be accessing a line of credit or the state’s municipal loan fund,” Calais Town Administrator Kari Bradley said.

Calais isn’t alone, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns says July’s flooding cost towns around $200 million in FEMA public assistance funds.

Many other municipalities are also working to get by until reimbursement can happen.

“There are several of our larger communities that were really badly impacted, that are having to reduce their budgets. They’re having to cut services, they’re having to, you know, raise taxes because they don’t know exactly what they’ll be reimbursed for yet of that $200 million,” said Ted Brady of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.

Back in Calais, the storms keep coming. Road crews continue to work after the recent December flooding and an early mud season of sorts.

“It does lend a sense of urgency to making sure that we have an adequately funded highway department which includes people and equipment,” Bradley said.

The storms have had crews working overtime, but the increasing intensity of storms has crews wondering about the future.

“It’s gonna keep raining like this,” Stafford said. “They’re gonna start talking about paving roads, which there’s no feasible way anybody can afford it now because our roads don’t have bases or anything that would support asphalt.”

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