SUTTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Northeast Kingdom towns are bracing for budget cuts and difficult financial decisions after President Trump this week rejected Vermont’s request for federal disaster aid following July flooding.
The president on Wednesday approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, and North Dakota, while denying requests from Vermont and other states.
More than three months after flooding wiped out roads and bridges in the Northeast Kingdom, signs of damage still remain. While some projects are already complete, others, like bridge washouts, remain unfinished. Town officials say they’ll struggle to pay for it on their own.
“The last three years has been a little bit of a stress. FEMA had covered 75% and 90% but the taxpayers are stressed as it is,” said Burke Selectboard Chair Mark Daigle. He says this past July, after the water receded, the town tallied nearly $400,000 in damage to infrastructure.
Other towns, like nearby Sutton, have already made some progress after they saw damage of over $1 million.
“If FEMA don’t kick in, it’s not going to be good. We’re going to have to take a loan out,” Sutton Road Foreman Shane Heath told us following the July flood.
Members of Vermont’s congressional delegation are pushing back, calling the president’s decision political. Gov. Phil Scott says they don’t plan to appeal the White House decision.
“It does [make me nervous]. Again, we’re a small community, we’re not Burlington obviously. The taxpayers, especially the elderly, you know, they’re barely getting by now,” Daigle said. He says they’ve already been in touch with groups like the Vermont League of Cities and Towns to figure out next steps, but that budget cuts are possible. “We’ve been working on paving the last couple of years, putting in extra money for that. We may have to cut back on some of things.”
Daigle said they have received support from surrounding towns to help make temporary fixes, but that more work is needed.
A spokesperson for the president says that Trump is “ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute — their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”
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