The costs of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit within a month of each other last year, cost the city of Naples $2.62 million, but once all insurance reimbursements are received, out-of-pocket costs are expected to be $633,210.
The city is still recouping reimbursements from Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and started rebuilding beach accesses and beach ends, with construction on Naples Pier still pending. As a result, City Manager Gary Young said City Council will be asked to approve supplemental appropriations at a future meeting.
Expenditures by various city departments for hurricanes Helene and Milton, which landed in Naples on Sept. 26 and Oct. 29, totaled $2.62 million, city Interim Finance Director Stefan Massol told City Council during a May 19 workshop.
“[The Federal Emergency Management Agency] is the insurance of last resort,” Massol said. “They perform their own review of our insurance policies, and they reduce the city’s eligible amount prior to obligation. They basically look at our policy and say, ‘What do we anticipate insurance will pay you?’ before the end. They don’t wait until all of our insurance has been settled before calculating that difference.”
Most of hurricane Helene and Milton’s costs were paid by the city’s general fund, $1.59 million but will drop to $319,726.65 once all reimbursements are received. Next hardest hit was the water and sewer fund at $436,930.49, but Massol said they expect to cover $87,386.10 after reimbursements. The stormwater fund paid $280,754.89, but that’s expected to dip to $56,150.98 in out-of-pocket costs to the city.
In comparison, he said, total costs for Hurricane Ian were $41.48 million, but decreased to $16.4 million out-of-pocket due to reimbursements, and could be reduced by $7 million to $12 million through FEMA reimbursements. Most costs were due to Naples Pier, which also will receive funding from other sources, including a $5 million state grant, $2.2 million from the Collier County Tourist Development Council and $1.5 million in private donations. It’s expected to receive $7 million in future FEMA reimbursements.
In October, Council approved a $23.4 million contract with Shoreline Foundation Inc., a Broward County-based marine contractor, but razing the remaining pier and reconstruction can’t begin without approval by the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA.
“There are still a lot of unknowns with how the Naples Pier project in particular is going to shape up toward the end,” Massol said. “… There are some projects that are not done yet. They’re still evaluating to figure out exactly what the city should be eligible for.”
Following the pier in damages are $2.9 million in beach access work and $1.3 million for damage to seawalls.
FEMA is authorized to pay for emergency work, which covers immediate debris removal and emergency protective measures, including fire, police and stormwater personnel.
“Stormwater personnel are very busy after any of these flooding events,” he said. “They’re trying to remove all that sediment from our stormwater infrastructure to make sure that the water is flowing and those flood conditions subside as quickly as possible.”
“City of Naples has received $4.2 million of insurance proceeds from Hurricane Ian,” Massol said.
Due to catastrophic flooding, wave action and debris, 90% of costs were borne by three city funds. Hurricane Ian cost the city’s general fund about $4.8 million and the water fund $3.6 million, including $1.1 million for wastewater lift-station repairs and about $1 million for emergency protective measures, including pumping and mobile generators. The beach fund paid $30.4 million, with $26 million related to Naples Pier and $4.4 million involving beach accesses, beach ends and Lowdermilk Park.
Two fire engines were lost during Ian, a loss of $2.3 million, he said, but insurance only paid $800,000 and FEMA kicked in $10,000, a $5,000 deductible for each vehicle — leaving the city with a net cost of $1.5 million. Recovery costs are based on actual cash value at the time, not purchase cost, he said, adding, “What FEMA provides to the city is basically what deductible we would have toward insurance.”
“There are a handful of exclusions that come into play,” he said, “and the largest one, of course, that’s impacting us is the exclusion that occurred for the Naples Pier.”
At a future meeting, he said, Council will be asked to approve a $2.3 million appropriation for hurricanes Helene and Milton, and about $4.2 million for Hurricane Ian. Costs for beach-end paving and curbing aren’t yet known, he said, so that would come back to Council once costs are determined.
