FEMA considers ‘disaster deductible’ for victims

Imagine how difficult recovering from southern Colorado’s recent disasters would have been if municipal governments had to pay a deductible in addition to a required matching amount.

That could be happening soon, according to El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark.

Clark said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is considering a so-called “disaster deductible” as a method of reclaiming some of the costs of funds paid to disaster victims.

The amount of the possible deductible is unclear but would be in addition to a traditional matching local amount — usually 20 to 25 percent — to qualify for federal funds.

“It’s obviously a cost-saving measure for FEMA,” she said. “But helping us recover from disasters is what FEMA is there for. A deductible will just make disaster recovery more difficult for communities.”

Clark, who has been actively involved in recovering from local disasters such as the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires, will testify Thursday in Washington, D.C., on the matter.

Clark will speak before a House emergency management subcommittee and express her concerns about how a deductible would affect victims and communities.

The subject of the hearing is “Controlling the Rising Cost of Federal Responses to Disaster.”

Clark also serves as president of the National Association of Counties and will testify on that organization’s behalf.

Some recent victims feared that the deductible would apply only to individual victims.

“How would they determine the deductible amount?” said Bruce Emerson, a landslide victim in Colorado Springs. “Does it depend on the value of homes damaged?”

C.J. Moore lost two homes in the Waldo Canyon fire and has rebuilt one of them. She doesn’t like the deductible idea.

“When you’ve lost everything, the idea that you have to pay somebody for them to pay you, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” she said.