El Paso County commissioner testifies in Washington, D.C.

A local county commissioner was part of a panel answering questions Thursday from a U.S. House committee about the impact of a proposed federal “disaster deductible.”

Sallie Clark sat through a two-hour hearing sponsored by the Subcommittee on Emergency Management.

Clark was invited to express her concerns about the possibility of a so-called “disaster deductible” implemented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Under the proposal, FEMA would require that local governments pay an unspecified deductible as a prerequisite for receiving any FEMA disaster funds.

The deductible could be in addition to a required local match — usually 20 or 25 percent — to obtain FEMA funding.

Clark said such a deductible would make disaster recovery, preparedness and prevention more difficult for victims and local governments.

“The ultimate result of shifting federal disaster costs to state and local governments will further deplete resources available for proactive mitigation work, resulting in even costlier disasters in the future,” she said.

The hearing was called “Controlling the Rising Cost of Federal Responses to Disaster.”

Rafael Lemaitre, a FEMA spokesman, said the proposal is in response to requests by Congress and other groups to control excess costs.

“One idea is to have the federal government declare fewer disasters overall,” he said. “We don’t agree with that. We want to help states do more disaster mitigation and give them credit for what they’re already doing.”

Lemaitre emphasized that the proposal would not reduce FEMA assistance to states or individuals.

But Clark is concerned about that happening, saying that a deductible would shift more of the burden of disaster recovery to state and local governments that have limited financial resources.

“FEMA has not given local governments confidence that a disaster deductible could be implemented without significant risk,” she said.

Lemaitre said FEMA has not announced when it will make a decision, nor determined the amount of the proposed deductible.

Mark Guthrie, whose home was damaged by the 2013 flash flood along Cheyenne Creek in southwest Colorado Springs, said FEMA needs to do more to prove that it truly needs a deductible and can put it to good use.

“Some of the federal entities didn’t really show up and when they did show up, they had representatives running around telling us they were going to do this and do that, and none of it really ever happened,” he said.

Guthrie said instead of a deductible, he’d rather rely on volunteers and local officials for disaster recovery.

“That’s how we repaired our damage,” he said.