FEMA

There was a lot on the docket during the most recent meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature, plus some debate not tied to any specific motions. Here's a recap.

“It’ll make homes less affordable than they already are, and that’s already an issue that we have in the city."

The funding comes after flooding caused by Tropical Storm Fred damaged hundreds of homes in August.

Hundreds of residents and businesses in Steuben and other counties lost property after flooding last summer. The U.S. Small Business Administration is now offering loans to fill in the gaps. But some are saying the help has arrived too late.

While the county can use FEMA public assistance to repair schools and other publicly-funded institutions, its residential neighbors are not eligible.

The assistance covers things like transportation, transfer of remains, a casket or urn, clergy or officiant services, ceremony arrangement, burial plot or cremation, and headstone markers.

"When you see a house go down a river, when you see a house hanging over an embankment...when is it enough for FEMA to say this county, this region, this state, needs our assistance?”