Missed deadlines nothing new for Rick Scott's disaster agency
Gov. Rick Scott's disaster management agency repeatedly violated federal requirements to timely reimburse cities and counties in Florida for the cost of storm damage, agency auditors discovered in routine reviews.
The inspector general in the Division of Emergency Management cited "preventable delays" in paying cities, counties, school districts, hospitals and even state agencies for the cost of recovery from past floods, tornadoes and hurricanes.
The state's slow pace will likely become a bigger issue because reimbursement costs will be higher from Hurricane Irma, the Category 4 storm that caused widespread death and destruction starting Sept. 10 in the Keys and along much of Florida's southwest coast.
The inspector general's annual report, dated Sept. 21, said the agency was violating federal law requiring timely payments on small and large projects after concluding a review of 33 earlier recovery requests. Payment delays were criticized 15 months earlier in a previous audit.
Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2017/10/27/missed-deadlines-nothing-new-for-rick-scotts-disaster-agency/