Still waiting for fire cost reimbursement almost 3 years later, one Colorado town wants a tax hike
Superior residents and officials have tried to move on in the nearly three years since the Marshall Fire ravaged the Colorado town.
However, the town still has not seen the funds promised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help reimburse the town for repairs.
"We had a fire that dramatically affected the town's finances," said Superior Mayor Pro Tem Neal Shah.
Now the town is asking its voters to approve a sales and use tax increase of 0.315%, the equivalent of 31 cents on every $100 to try to work on parts of the city's infrastructure. The money is to be used to construct and improve parks, playgrounds, swimming pools and streets.
"We had had a lot of stores shut down with the fire, we're just not, we don't have the income that we need to maintain the stuff we have now, much less to improve the things that we need to improve while we're growing," said Superior resident Zhenya Shvarcsman.
For Superior, which has 14,000 residents and a $60,000,000 annual budget, things changed with the fire. It cost the city over $11 million in expenditures said Shah. Some of it was covered by insurance, but much of it is being covered by FEMA. Shah is still complimentary toward FEMA. Typically it covers 75% of cleanup after a fire, but in the Marshall Fire, it was 90%. But the money has not yet come through.
"We thought that FEMA said that they were going to reimburse you, we thought that happened like the next day. But they have their own process and it takes some time," said Shah.
"I fear for small communities that are affected by these cataclysmic events and that they don't have the capital to get there," Shah explained. "We had to defer a lot of the expenses after the fire for a few years."
That included plans to repair and update the town's south pool. It was on the schedule for 2022 but got put off as the town dealt with the fire.
"What we don't know -- and it's hard to get an answer -- is exactly how fast those funds may flow back to the town," Shah said.
"FEMA has obligated 13 projects for $5,739,143.53 (this is the federal share). Two projects related to debris removal and donated resources, for an estimated $258,808.41, are currently still being reviewed," FEMA spokesman Anthony Mayne said in response to questions from CBS News Colorado.
FEMA gives the money to the state and the state ultimately delivers the money to the local community. A source says Superior is still working on other accounting documentation needed before the state can release the funds that FEMA has provided.
Superior is asking for far more in the long run in the tax hike request slated for November's ballot. It would allow for the ability to issue $20 million in debt for the projects and the tax would potentially run 25 years.
"I'm not sold on anything really yet," said Superior resident Martin Huber, who remains skeptical of many tax increases. "A lot of issues are well-intentioned but poorly defined."
Other residents, like Melissa Thornton, have more hope: "Will I support my town and vote for it? I will. Because I think that they're doing the best that they can with what they have."