County Eligible For Disaster Money; Orangeburg, Others May Be Reimbursed For Storm Costs

Sept. 18--Orangeburg County is one of the eight counties in South Carolina that were included in President Donald Trump's disaster declaration on Monday.

Trump's declaration, which came at the request of Gov. Henry McMaster, allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse costs that the county may have incurred due to the storm.

"The declaration that we got was for public assistance, which is to help reimburse the local governments for their response efforts to respond to the disaster," Orangeburg County EMS Director Billy Staley said.

"The declaration is not based on individual assistance, which is getting the citizens any assistance from FEMA, but more so to help the governments recoup their costs for preparing for and responding to the disaster," Staley said.

Staley stated that preparing for a storm can be costly and that the request for the declaration was made in advance of the storm.

"We have costs for manpower, we have costs for operating equipment, and we never know whether we're going to get reimbursed for that until we get a declaration," Staley said.

Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young noted that the county can be reimbursed a portion of its costs.

"Once a disaster is declared, we're eligible to request 75 percent reimbursement back for the expenses we incurred in preparing for the storm," Young said.

"We have to meet a threshold of $300,000 before we can get reimbursed anything," he said.

Young said the county is currently tabulating the costs associated with the storm.

"Now we're in the process of documenting the money that we spent in preparation of the storm for generators, supplies and manpower, and additional equipment," Young stated.

If the county does not meet the threshold, then it is responsible for the costs.

"When we don't meet those thresholds, we have to find those funds in our budgets," Staley stated.

Staley noted that the county did not sustain much damage during the storm.

"There were minimal property damages across the county, and very minimal trees down across the county for us," Staley said.

"We were very lucky that the storm tracked further north," Staley said.

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