Improved Administration of Federal Public Disaster Assistance Can Reduce Costs and Increase Effectiveness

Gao ID: CED-82-98 July 23, 1982

GAO reviewed the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) administration of funds for public disaster assistance. The review was made to determine whether FEMA, which provided over $700 million in disaster assistance from 1979 through 1981, was consistently and effectively providing such assistance to state and local governments.

Under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, public disaster assistance is intended to supplement resources available to state and local governments following major disasters. GAO found that FEMA provided public disaster assistance to state and local governments for certain expenditures which they had the capability of providing for themselves. Specifically, state and local governments were reimbursed for: (1) salaries of employees who were temporarily reassigned to assist in disaster relief efforts; (2) equipment temporarily diverted to disaster relief work; and (3) repair and reconstruction of uninsured public buildings. GAO does not believe that reimbursing these types of costs is consistent with the intent of supplemental assistance. GAO also found that state and local governments were not treated consistently in determining what expenses were eligible for reimbursement. This was largely due to the fact that FEMA relies on temporary staff to augment regional staff under the stressful conditions following a disaster. As a result, many immediate and subjective judgments regarding complicated cost eligibility situations are made. Many of these decisions have been subsequently reversed, creating dissatisfaction at the state and local levels with the way public disaster assistance is handled.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: John H. Luke Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-6111


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