Falk Announces Funds for Tornado Relief

December 21, 2005
Topf Wells, 266-9069 or Steve Steinhoff, 266-4270
County Executive

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced today that $60,000 in grant funds are available to help towns, villages and cities pay for tornado debris removal costs. The storm, which occurred in late August 2005, affected the Towns of Dunn, Pleasant Springs, Christiana, Rutland, Dunkirk, and a portion of the City of Stoughton. The grants are made available through the County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. “Dane County has worked hard to provide whatever assistance we can to the residents and communities hurt by the tornado. “With tight budgets for local governments, tornado clean-up costs have severely strained local budgets. Although federal CDBG rules restrict what we can do, I am glad that we can offer partial reimbursement for the communities’ clean-up costs,” said Falk. She commented briefly on the decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) decision, released the previous day, to deny Wisconsin communities, including aid for the tornado damage. “State, county, local governments and thousands of volunteers are working together to help the citizens and communities hurt by the tornadoes. FEMA should have joined us in this effort; I think they made a big mistake.” Cities, villages, and towns in the tornado area are encouraged to apply for assistance under the tornado relief program by January 20, 2006. Applications will be mailed to the affected communities and also are available on the county's website: www.co.dane.wi.us. Under the federal rules, communities can apply for reimbursement of the costs for their public employees to remove storm debris from public right of way. For additional information about this program, contact Steve Steinhoff at 608-266-4270 or Steinhoff@co.dane.wi.us. # # #