Shall the Town of Hampton vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $50,000 for the purpose of participating in the FEMA Advanced Assistance Grant Program that will reimburse the Town 75% of the Town’s expenses in the grant program based on the expenditure of $50,000 in completing the program requirements, with said appropriation to be funded from the Unassigned Fund balance; this funding will enable the Town to establish a process to prioritize, manage and administer requests for Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds by Hampton on behalf of those property owners interested in elevating their structures or selling their vulnerable properties to the Town within the FEMA flood hazard areas that are or will be subject to sea level rise utilizing private and Federal funds? (Majority vote required.)
What it means: Article #33 will fund the development of a process through which Hampton property owners can apply for FEMA funding to elevate their structures to make them more flood-resilient, or to sell their properties to the town (at fair market value), after which the structures will be torn down and the parcels converted to open space.
These grant applications, according to FEMA regulations, can only be made through the Town. The money would fund a contractor (Rockingham Planning Commission) to provide administrative oversight, to ensure that all paper work submitted by property owners and the town meet regulations and that, should grants be awarded, all required reports are complete and timely through the completion of each project. These grants may enable people to elevate their structures who may not otherwise have the funds to do so. The Town has applied for a grant to cover this development process. Should that grant be awarded, 75% of the $50,000 ($37,500) will be reimbursed to the Town when the development work by RPC is completed, leaving the final cost to the Town at $12,500. The $50,000 in this warrant article will come from the Unassigned Fund Balance, meaning that there will be no additional tax impact.
Those in favor say: The initiating process must be done by the Town, and there is a “daunting” amount of administration that must be done to qualify Hampton residents for these FEMA grants. There is a possibility for a significant offset (75%) of the cost of the upfront process (as well as the 75% grants for the homeowners). If the 75% grant for the upfront work is not forthcoming, the project will not be initiated.
Those against say: No one spoke against this Article at Deliberative Session.
Fiscal impact: There is no tax impact because the money will be taken from the Unassigned Fund Balance at the outset, and we will have 75% reimbursed via a grant.