Tornadoes can cause extreme damage. Sometimes, all the hardships inflicted can’t even be seen.

Just ask Marshall County Judge-Executive Kevin Neal. His county, including its largest city, Benton, was one of the communities hit by a deadly tornado last December. In all, the estimated damage done to businesses, residences, government infrastructure and utilities in Marshall County was $15 million.

And Judge Neal had to figure out a way to pay.

Many folks are familiar with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which helps communities recover from disasters. But what many don’t know, and what Judge Neal now knows first-hand, is that FEMA’s monetary aid comes in the form of reimbursements. That is, local governments first pay the costs of clean-up and repairs, then apply to FEMA to reimburse those costs.

So Judge Neal had a big problem. He had to come up with a major portion of that $15 million to start the recovery. But Marshall County’s rainy day fund totaled just over $2 million, which normally would be a decent amount for a county that size but fell well short of covering the bill for such a big storm. The solution? Judge Neal had to do what many local governments do in those circumstances. He went to a bank to get a line of credit, enabling Marshall County to borrow the money for the cleanup effort– expenses that would eventually be paid back with FEMA  funds.

Two tough challenges there, though. First, the FEMA reimbursement process is very detailed, downright complicated, and getting money back often takes many months, if not years. Second, while Judge Neal waits for full FEMA reimbursement, the bank is charging interest on the loans the county needed, which add to the overall up-front costs to Marshall Countians.

Judge Neal told that story to a group of county leaders at a conference we attended earlier this year. It was eye-opening. He has done a great service to his community handling the aftermath of the tornado. I admire him.

I am also thankful that over the last seven years Henderson County Fiscal Court and all of our elect officials and department heads have worked together to build our rainy day fund. If we—God forbid—had a $15 million disaster, the county could handle those up-front costs without the need for a loan (and added interest payments). We’d still have plenty of money left over to bolster our normal day-to-day operations.  We would not have to fret over the speed with which FEMA would deliver relief and cover our costs. We are one of the few Kentucky counties our size that have that capacity.

Good fiscal management has been a priority for Henderson County Fiscal Court the last seven years. Let’s keep that momentum going.

-Brad