Will NYS be paying more for disaster relief? Officials weigh in on FEMA plan to shift burden to states.

New York State and Long Island municipalities might have to bolster their emergency capabilities ahead of major storms, according to a news report that the Federal Emergency Management Administration plans to shift responsibility for disaster response to the states.

"Every state must have the appropriate financial reserves" and other abilities "to ensure that recovery efforts can start immediately and not necessarily be held up simply because of the federal [disaster] declaration process," agency Administrator Cameron Hamilton said at an Oct. 20 conference for emergency management directors, which Politico first reported that day.

"A future that I hope we would shoot for is one where we wouldn’t require as many [disaster declarations] because the capability of states is so high and so substantial," Hamilton said, according to the report.

Politico did not outline formal changes to federal disaster response, but quoted Hamilton laying out changes in his remarks including "national mutual aid" involving state-to-state assistance and "waiving of federal environmental and historical preservation requirements" that he said added layers of bureaucracy.

The changes could begin "in the next six months," he said.

In a statement Thursday evening, the FEMA press office said: “Federal assistance is meant to support state and local response, not to replace it, and cannot make individuals or communities whole after a disaster. While FEMA supplements local efforts where needed through federal support, FEMA’s primary focus is on empowering communities to lead and execute disaster response and recovery.”

On Long Island, where Superstorm Sandy did billions of dollars in damage in 2012 and thousands of homes and businesses remain vulnerable to flooding, officials and planning experts reacted warily.

"Any attempt by the Trump administration to cut financial assistance to communities stricken by disaster is an abdication of their responsibilities and is indefensible," Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Gov. Kathy Hochul, wrote in an email, citing a string of recent extreme weather events including nor’easters and record-breaking blizzards. The governor, he wrote, "will fight back against any policy changes or funding cuts that put Long Island communities at risk and will continue to urge FEMA to be a partner for the vulnerable when devastation hits."

John Cameron, an engineer who chairs the Long Island Regional Planning Council, said a substantial shift of responsibility from the federal to state and local level would deal a grave fiscal blow to the region. "Long Island and New York City are probably the most disaster-vulnerable communities in New York State. ... This would put more of a burden on local municipalities, a number of which have already pierced the tax cap" to meet ongoing routine costs like healthcare and pension contributions, he said.

Cameron questioned whether many municipalities, and even the state itself, had the financial reserves needed for disaster response. He also said that, since Sandy, few communities had implemented resiliency projects like raised roads or pump stations. "There are some in place, but not that many and not the big-ticket stuff."

A spokesperson for the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services referred a request for comment to Hochul’s office.

One local leader said it was possible to do at least some of what Hamilton seemed to be proposing. Mayor Paul Pontieri of Patchogue, the South Shore village whose low-lying areas flooded during Sandy and are still a concern during nor’easters, said that "the federal government has an obligation, absolutely" to provide aid in a crisis but "we have the same obligation. ... You put a little money away every year and you build up reserves enough so that when those emergencies happen, you can take care of them."

Some of the initiatives Hamilton mentioned were foreshadowed in a report last May by the President's Council to assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency, created to reform FEMA. The report included proposals to upend how the federal government determines which disasters to support, how FEMA pays states and other governments for disaster recovery costs, and what kind of FEMA assistance survivors receive, among other reforms.

The same week Hamilton made his comments about greater state responsibility, FEMA debuted a new tool for consumers to purchase a federally backed National Flood Insurance Program policy online through Floodsmart.gov. It gives the option to buy into the federal program directly or to connect with area brokers.

"On the one hand, they’re saying, ‘We leave it up to the states to provide homeowner aid for moderate and lower crises, but we’re making it easier for people to buy flood insurance,' " said David Sterling, CEO of Woodbury-based insurance brokerage SterlingRisk.

Flood policy premiums have gotten significantly more expensive in recent years but are still relatively inexpensive for homes that are not located in a flood zone, he said.

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.