A Community Development District 8 supervisor on Friday questioned an expenditure for cleanup from last year’s Hurricane Irma.
The CDD 8 Board approved $36,365 in expenses related to the cleanup from the hurricane.
However, Supervisor Larry McMurry took issue with the expenditure.
“Two pieces of this are painful,” McMurry said.
First, he said CDD 8 supervisors had no idea how their expense “fits into the larger picture” of damage and costs across The Villages.
Second, he harkened back to the long, painful weeks that residents endured as they waited for debris pickup.
“We stuffed our debris into bags. And it rained. And the bags leaked. And they sat, they sat, they sat, they sat,” McMurry said.
The $36,365 paid by CDD 8 represents costs from the previous fiscal year which ended in September. The bulk of the cleanup costs will come due this year.
CDDs in The Villages are awaiting word for possible reimbursement for up to 90 percent of the cleanup costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Auditor Helen Painter of Purvis, Gray & Company added perspective on FEMA reimbursement.
She said that municipalities are finally beginning to see some reimbursement from Hurricane Matthew which struck in October 2016.
“They are just now getting that money back,” Painter said.
