Hurricane Irma cost Treasure Coast taxpayers about $5.2 million overtime.
Hurricane Irma cost Treasure Coast taxpayers about $5.2 million in overtime. Governments prepared for the storm, kept people safe during it and then sent workers out afterward to clean up damage. The overtime bill for the Sept. 10 storm, however, could keep climbing as cities and counties continue clearing debris left at the roadside.
Preparation began days before Irma made landfall; emergency evacuation shelters opened Sept. 9. Some agencies still are putting in overtime to collect residential storm debris. As of early October, the Martin County Sheriff’s Department spent $29,600 in overtime for a contingent of deputies sent to the Keys to assist Monroe County authorities after the storm.
Governments will seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the overtime expenses and other costs incurred.
Apart from damaged homes, eroded beaches and felled tree branches, the storm also left people wanting help with the most basic of necessities: food. Millions of Floridians have been finding help through the Florida Department of Children and Families. As of Friday morning, the agency has handed out $954.3 million in temporary federal food assistance in Florida because of Irma. That has gone to 4.2 million people, according to state reports.
