Local and state governments across Florida are finally getting a massive financial weight lifted off their shoulders. U.S. Representative Greg Steube and Senator Ashley Moody met in Punta Gorda today to announce that $1.8 billion in long-delayed federal disaster relief funds is finally flowing back into the state. Out of that total, about $64 million is headed directly to Charlotte County.
The money isn’t a new grant. Instead, it is a massive wave of reimbursements for local recovery projects that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had already approved years ago but never actually paid out. Because of the multi-year backlog, state and local municipalities have been forced to front the money and carry the heavy financial burden themselves.
In Charlotte County, the bulk of the incoming cash is tied to rebuilding and clean-up efforts from Hurricane Ian. However, some of the unpaid bills across the state date all the way back to Hurricane Irma, which hit Florida nearly nine years ago in 2017…