Pasco County asks for community feedback on where nearly $600 million in hurricane relief funds should go
Six months after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Pasco County is getting ready to dole out nearly $600 million in relief funds.
County officials are asking residents for feedback on where they want the money allocated.
Officials say over $500 million of the grant money will go to unmet recovery needs in the county.
HUDSON, Fla. - It's been six and a half long months for many communities in the Tampa Bay region following hurricanes Helene and Milton, so Pasco County is looking to hear where help is needed most with a $585.7 million grant from the federal government.
Pasco County government held a disaster recovery meeting at the Hudson Library on Thursday, where dozens of residents attended to listen.
Hudson resident Pat Dando was among those residents, carrying images of her house on fire as a result of Hurricane Idalia in 2023.
What they're saying
"It was hard to see, hard to watch," said Dando. "Twenty years we owned it. It was our retirement dream."
Dando evacuated with her husband to safety and lost everything.
"The worst is that we raised three boys together. We're 44 years together, and we have no photos," said Dando. "It was before you saved them on an iPad."
READ: Bay Area officials using lessons learned from last year to prepare for 2025 hurricane season
Dando sat among dozens of other Pasco County residents with similar stories, hopeful for answers on recovery and rebuilding.
"How could FEMA deny us? How could the insurance initially deny us? It just doesn't seem justified," Dando said.
Dig deeper
Pasco County officials said the $585.7 million in disaster recovery funding will go toward damage from Idalia, Helene and Milton. Of that total, about $509.3 million will be allocated to unmet needs within the community, and about $76.4 million will be allocated to mitigation.
"800 homes were completely lost and 7,600 homes substantially damaged in Pasco County. That's a really big number," said Marcy Esbjerg, senior program administrator with Pasco County.
Esbjerg is leading the effort, hearing from cities about infrastructure and residents about housing.
READ: Report shows sharp decline in people moving to Tampa: 'It's like a fire sale'
"We can help them renovate what they had. They can build new housing. They could relocate. We can even replace mobile homes," said Esbjerg. "We're hearing a lot about stormwater. We are also hearing about evacuation routes that went underwater."
Big picture view
As county workers listened to the public, a table was set up for people to drop chips into jars, indicating where they would like to see the money go.
"Right now, we are doing everything on the west side. But Monday, we go to the east side, and there are places on the east side that are still underwater," said Esbjerg.
After this round of public meetings, the county will write up an action plan for programs expected to launch this fall or winter.
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Then, the county will publish the action plan for 30 days to receive public comments and hold another series of meetings to gather further feedback on the plan, according to Esbjerg.
"My heart goes out to people that are still waiting, and we will try to get the money out as quickly as possible, but that is not the original intent of this funding," said Esbjerg.
Getting into a house that feels like home is what residents like Dando hope for as they wait.
"That would be ideal. I mean, we loved it there," said Dando.
What's next
The next meeting to gather feedback on disaster recovery funding will be on Monday, April 21, at 6 p.m.
It will be at the Moore-Mickens Education Center located at 38301 Martin Luther King Boulevard in Dade City.
To find more information about the upcoming meetings and to provide online feedback, click here.
The Source
FOX 13's Briona Arradondo collected the information in this story.
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