City officials are inching ever closer to sending the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) documentation of flooded homes in Austin so they can receive $2.5 million to buy the homes that suffered the most damage.

Public Works Director Jon Erichson says he believes the city will be able to send the information to FEMA by the end of October and after that, "I assume it's a fairly quick turnaround" before the funds are released.

Since the money was granted earlier this year, the public works department has been wading through FEMA's "extensive" documentation process, Erichson explains. "They're very careful and cautious. They want to make sure the money is being spent and addressing the parcels of highest need."

This means each home in the flood plain had to be identified and evaluated based on their elevations, the amount of damage to each home during Austin's five most recent floods (two in 1978, one in 1983, one in 1993 and one in 2000), their distance to public infrastructure and what it costs to relocate those displaced by the floods.

Though the funds from FEMA have no expiration date, $2 million granted in 2001 for flood relief from the state of Minnesota may be rescinded if the money is not used before December 2003.

At least, that's something the Department of Finance could recommend to the state legislature and State Senator Grace Schwab, R-District 27, is concerned. "The problem is, I would be the lone wolf in the woods crying 'don't cut it!' and the other 66 members of the Senate would support the Department of Finance," she says.

However, she says she understands the city's quandary. "I think they thought they would get the money from FEMA faster than they have. I think that when they heard they had these federal funds, they did not know they would have these regulations to deal with," she says. "Austin doesn't fit the FEMA project's profile perfectly which has caused the delay."

Schwab says she mostly just wants people to know the money from the state, which carries no limitations for how it can be used, has not been spent. "We're looking at a project where the dollars from the state were appropriated a year and a half ago and we had expectations that they would be used and they haven't yet. I'm just concerned we'll have a major rain event, we'll experience flooding and people will be displaced from their homes again."

Amanda L. Rohde can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto:amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com