“I wasn’t here when this happened, but I’m willing to take care of it.”
Grayson County Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson upon taking office in August 2017 was quickly informed of a debt the county incurred related to the massive and destructive 2009 Ice Storm.
“When I got here I was told by our Emergency Management Director, Tony Willen, that there’s an issue that’s been floating around for quite a few years and they’ve tried to deal with it, and then it sort of went away; then it came back and went away … (but) we owe Kentucky Emergency Management $503,290.88,” Henderson told magistrates at Tuesday’s Fiscal Court meeting.
Giving rise to the debt was, according to Henderson, a simple misunderstanding between federal and local agencies concerning the reimbursement of labor costs associated with the colossal cleanup effort after the ice storm.
“There was a lot of money coming into the county. We received a lot of funds from FEMA,” Henderson noted. “They (county officials at the time) were told that anybody who worked for the county assisting with cleanup … could be counted at a certain rate throughout the duration of the disaster. Well, the (Grayson County Detention Center) inmates were working — 50 to 60 inmates – and they (local officials) counted those inmates and they put them on the FEMA tally. After the disbursement of funds to the county (to reimburse for the labor) someone (at FEMA) catches it and they go: ‘Who were these 60 people? We were told you can’t do that.’”
Essentially, the county was reimbursed at an unallowable monetary rate for inmate labor during the cleanup effort.
“We were told we could count inmate labor for cleanup as volunteer labor,” Jailer Jason Woosley said. “After it was all over with, we were told you can’t count inmate labor the same as everybody else because we get paid a per diem by the state to house those inmates.”
That overpayment by FEMA for inmate labor equals approximately $200,000 of the $503,290.88 debt.
The remaining $300,000 debt, Henderson said, “was a mistake that happened back in 2009 and 2010, and we were overpaid … they (officials at the time) were told that there were some things they could claim” that they actually were not allowed to claim.
The money was distributed to multiple local agencies.
“I have contacted everyone I know. I’ve contacted Gov. (Matt) Bevin’s office whenever he was in office; I’ve contacted Gov. (Andy) Beshear’s office; I’ve contacted our state senator; I’ve contacted our state representative; I’ve contacted (U.S Congressman) Brett Guthrie and his office; I’ve contacted U.S. Senator (Mitch) McConnell and his office, to try and do something and alleviate this debt off the county that has been plaguing and burdening us since 2010,” Henderson stated.
But to no avail.
“With that being said, there’s actually no way we can get off paying this debt. No way,” Henderson said.
Henderson did note that last year, after being hounded by Kentucky Emergency Management almost since he was appointed judge-executive, “we paid $67,006.64” of the debt.
That payment dropped the debt to $436,284.24.
Woosley, who was not Grayson County Jailer at the time of the 2009 Ice Storm, told Fiscal Court that the Grayson County Detention Center is contributing $200,000 toward paying down the debt, which covers the cost of the inmate labor overpayment.
Fiscal Court then voted to remit payment for the remaining $236, 284.24 out of the county’s General Fund.
“We’ve been very frugal with the money and we’ve saved up enough money so we can pay the debt,” Henderson said. “It’s something we have to take care of … It’s been long enough.”
None of the elected or appointed officials in Grayson County from 2009 are currently in office.
Henderson, who was a Kentucky State Police Trooper in 2009, said although FEMA remitted the $503,290.88 to Grayson County in 2010, the debt is owed to Kentucky Emergency Management because that agency previously paid FEMA the debt amount.
(Photo: Grayson Co. Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
