Briny Breezes got a pleasant surprise in October: an email from the Federal Emergency Management Agency asking if the town still wanted that $1.4 million grant that it applied for over a year ago.
It does. And the reimbursable FEMA mitigation grant comes with a bonus: It means the town qualifies for a matching grant from the state of Florida, also for $1.4 million.
“We were notified we got the grant, but then FEMA was rumored to be shut down by the administration and things were in a pause,” Town Manager Bill Thrasher said. “We were told at one point that the town should not rely on this grant coming through. But it turns out that the grant request is alive and well.”
The $2.8 million in grant money will go toward the town-wide drainage plan, as well as for cash flow purposes and some construction costs, since both the federal and state grants are not up-front money but can be used to reimburse town expenditures, he said.
The town is still seeking a loan of as much as $2.5 million from the state of Florida for capital improvement projects, which include the drainage improvements and enhancing the town’s entire sea wall.
— Henry Fitzgerald
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