The Kenai Peninsula Borough Finance Committee met on November 7th to discuss the possibility of accepting money from the state.
The resolution, would accept $243,000 from the State Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Emergency Management Operations.
The Borough received the grant after applying through the Federal Emergency Management Performance Grant program. This is the same grant that the KPB applied for in fiscal year 2022, which also provided them with $243,000.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Emergency Manager Brenda Ahlberg says that this resolution recognizes the grant that the emergency management receives annually. In regards to the Borough, it requires a cash match. The 50% match is built into the department’s annual operating budget.
“For this one in particular, we’re going to be receiving more than 20,000 to cover for first quarter of last year’s grant amount. The state was able to realize additional funding And then the remaining 200,000 for this current year, the state has this grant under federal fiscal so it starts October 1, so it’s going to have a little bit of a lapse into FY 25. However, our effort will be to spend all the funds within our FY 24 ending June 30th,” said Ahlberg.
Ahlberg did also want to mention that this grant supplements the OEM staff, and works specifically for planning and training, which means it would not be used for any type of disaster response fund.
The Borough Assembly unanimously voted to accept the resolution.