The Federal Emergency Management Agency has reopened some funding for disaster prevention projects, but a timeline for when North Carolina could see hundreds of millions in federal dollars remains unclear, according to a North Carolina Emergency Management spokesperson.
Last April, FEMA announced the cancellation of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, grant program. Roughly $200 million in federal dollars from the program was scheduled for disaster preparation projects in North Carolina before the grant was canceled, according to the NC Department of Justice.
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North Carolina was one of 20 states that sued FEMA to get the money back. On March 6, a federal judge ordered the agency to reinstate the BRIC program and update states on all grant projects within 14 days.
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said on Tuesday that FEMA indicated in recent court filings the agency will allocate the remaining BRIC funds to states "in the coming months."
"We can't quite say this is a total victory because the money has not actually arrived," Jackson said.
He noted that he expects a timeline to emerge "relatively soon."
NC Emergency Management got notification from FEMA on March 17 with an update on some BRIC projects, according to a division spokesperson who cautioned that the ongoing partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, is making it hard to get specifics.
"NCEM is unable to obtain any details on the restart from programmatic FEMA staff at this point. Given these factors, there is no timeline on expected restart and funding," an NCEM spokesperson said in an email to WRAL on Monday.
FEMA did not immediately respond to WRAL's request for comment.
Officials in impacted municipalities say they are relying on the funding. That includes Fayetteville, which was scheduled to receive more than $15 million to replace crucial bridges susceptible to flooding.
"We're hoping that we can get some resolution to this and the funds will flow in," Mayor Mitch Colvin said.
A similar situation is playing out in Hillsborough, where water and sewer infrastructure set for upgrades with millions in BRIC funding was flooded during Tropical Storm Chantal last summer.
Colvin said with the uncertainty, municipalities may have to make tough decisions.
"We only have so many revenue levers to pull. One is raise taxes but it's a terrible time to do that to anyone," Colvin said. "It stills end up on the backs of the local taxpayers who can't afford it right now."
The ruling also required FEMA to open new grant applications within 21 days. Jackson said the agency will begin taking funding applications for the next round of BRIC programs on Friday.