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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Moore

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/13/07

HB 1070

SHORT TITLE

UNION COUNTY EMERGENCY WINTER

STORM REPAIRS

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$1,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 1070 appropriates $1,000.0 from the General Fund for expenditure by Union County

in FY07 and 08 to pay for winter storm repairs, including emergency snow removal and costs of

repairing roads. HB 1070 declares an emergency.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $1,000.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA reports that Union County recently received over three feet of snow and has since been

attempting to recover from that snowfall. This extreme amount of snow resulted in six foot snow

drifts, and county crews having to continuously open the roads. Union County maintains twelve

hundred twenty eight miles of county dirt roads. As the snow melts, the roads become extremely

muddy, causing ruts averaging twelve inches, resulting in damaged roadways.

House Bill 1070 – Page

2

Union County has a solid budget, with reserve for planned projects. Their road crew consists of

ten full time employees. Since the end of December, these employees have been working

overtime trying to maintain roads. In addition, the county was forced to hire private contractors

to assist with opening roads. The county fuel bill doubled, equipment repairs increased, and the

overtime budget was overspent by 350%. These additional costs have caused the county to dip

into their General Fund and Road Reserve in order to pay for emergency snow removal.

The effect of this snowfall has resulted in the county continuously having to open roadways. In

addition, road ruts have also depleted the road surface. Union County will have to redo twelve

hundred miles of damaged roadways.

RELATIONSHIP

Relates to HB 1071.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

HB 1070 does not specify the amount or percentage of the appropriation to be used in FY07 or

FY08. However, the appropriation would be reimbursed as costs occur.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Union County has applied for emergency funding with the Office of Emergency Management

and with FEMA. The Office of Emergency Management caps emergency loans at $750.0. The

funding process is somewhat lengthy, and to date, no funding has been provided to Union

County. However, because the county will have to redo their roadways, emergency funding will

not be sufficient.

WEP/nt