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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The state failed to hit its $18.2 million target for cleanup costs from the March 14 snow storm, melting the hopes of reimbursement for municipalities that busted their budgets on labor and equipment to clear roads and streets.</p><p>Luzerne County Emergency Management Director Lucy Morgan said she was informed Monday that the state received a total of approximately $7.7 million from counties, including several in Northeastern Pennsylvania hit with record snowfalls from Winter Storm Stella.</p><p>&#8220;We were told that we&#8217;re not going to make the threshold,&#8221; Morgan said.</p><p>The state is still waiting for PennDOT costs, but it&#8217;s too big of a gap to close, Morgan said.</p><p>Luzerne County&#8217;s figure of $2,790,563 accounted for more than a third of the state&#8217;s total. &#8220;We have the lion&#8217;s share,&#8221; Morgan said.</p><p>The county surpassed its threshold and passed it on to the Pennsylvanian Emergency Management Agency on Friday to combine with other counties&#8217; costs with the hope of reaching the state threshold. From there it would have been passed on to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a determination on reimbursement.</p><p>The unofficial notice Morgan received from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency was official enough for municipal officials who worried about finding money to cover the unbudgeted costs of clearing record snowfalls in some places.</p><p>&#8220;We have very little in reserves,&#8221; said Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George.</p><p>The city submitted $678,155 that covered expenses for the highest continuous 48 hours of cleanup. It hired outside contractors to work around-the-clock and assist city workers and equipment during the five-day State of Emergency the mayor declared.</p><p>If the reimbursement was approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency it would have paid 75 cents on the dollar, a help to Wilkes-Barre, other municipalities and non-profits that submitted expenses. They still would have had to find funds for the full clean up.</p><p>&#8220;It sets us back. We&#8217;re out about $150,000 (total),&#8221; said Robert Sax, a Plains Township commissioner.</p><p>Plains Township is financially strapped just like the other municipalities that submitted expenses, he said.</p><p>Nanticoke put in $54,126 for its most expensive 48 hours. Donna Wall, acting city manager said the city won&#8217;t have to dig into its general fund. &#8220;Fortunately snow removal can come out of liquid fuels,&#8221; Wall said.</p><p>Nanticoke is reimbursed just under $300,000 from the state for liquid fuels that also is used for paving and equipment purchases, but the snow cleanup will take a &#8220;big chunk&#8221; out of it, Wall said.</p><p>The issue isn&#8217;t dead for Sax who called for a unified effort to continue to pursue funding.</p><p>&#8220;Hopefully we can actually get together and speak to one of our congressman,&#8221; Sax said.</p><p>George already has spoken to U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton and suggested a FEMA designation solely for the county because it exceeded its threshold of $1,158,513.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s where the heart of the storm was,&#8221; George said.</p><p>Barletta didn&#8217;t put a lot of faith into a county-only designation.</p><p>&#8220;As a former (Hazleton) mayor for 11 years I feel for them. Nobody has this kind of money in their budget,&#8221; Barletta said.</p><p>He explained that in order for a presidential declaration to release funds for FEMA the governor has to request assistance. He hasn&#8217;t totally ruled out the county designation, however, and will continue to pursue it, he said.</p><p>In the meantime he will look at other sources such as grants.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re looking to see if there&#8217;s somewhere else where we can find help, &#8221; Barletta said.</p><p>Staff writer Melanie Mizenko contributed.</p><p>For other local news stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/local" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The city of Wilkes-Barre looks to be on its own to cover unbudgeted cleanup costs from the March 14 snow storm after the state failed to amass enough expenses from counties to meet a threshold of $18.2 million to be eligible for possible federal reimbursement. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL031617Snow5adCMYK.jpg</photo0><caption0>The city of Wilkes-Barre looks to be on its own to cover unbudgeted cleanup costs from the March 14 snow storm after the state failed to amass enough expenses from counties to meet a threshold of $18.2 million to be eligible for possible federal reimbursement. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Local municipalities won’t receive federal money for storm cleanup