After Ivan destroyed fishing bridge,
Gulf Breeze to get FEMA funds
STAFF REPORTS Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officially obligated funds to mitigate the damage caused to the Gulf Breeze Fishing Bridge by Hurricane Ivan in September, 2004.

"It's a large figure," said Gulf Breeze Mayor Lane Gilchrist. "The estimated cost to rebuild ended up just over $23 million, but we will never see that kind of money. FEMA guidelines allow for up to 75 percent of federal monies to be used for pre-approved alternative projects. So we will now start the process of submitting alternative projects for FEMA's review and, we hope, approval."

Gulf Breeze City Manager Edwin "Buz" Eddy said the general public often misunderstands how money is appropriated.

"There is a common misconception that FEMA grants cash to cities. That doesn't happen. They reimburse project expenditures already made by the city that fit with FEMA's rules and regulations," Eddy said. "If your projects come in under budget, they only reimburse what you spent; if you go over budget, there is no guarantee that they will reimburse beyond what they originally estimated. Gulf Breeze has been able to recover as well as it has from the 2004 and 2005 storms with significant help from FEMA, and for that we are grateful that the Stafford Act exists. But no one should be under the illusion that FEMA just writes checks and walks away from municipalities; it is a long, detailed, and often bureaucratic process to get reimbursed."

The fishing bridge project has been under review since an earlier version of the project was created in December, 2004.

At this time, a variety of alternative projects are under consideration by the Gulf Breeze City Council for submission to FEMA, but no final decision has been made by the council. Projects under consideration vary from basic equipment purchases such as trucks to adding on the South Santa Rosa recreation center.