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The city of Hancock is looking for ways to help with the required match for federal flood relief funds.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires a match of 25 percent of their funds while the Federal Highway Administration needs a 20 percent match.
Governor Rick Snyder authorized the state to pay half of the FEMA match, valued at nearly $940,000.
But that still leaves half of the money needed for FEMA, as well as the match for the Federal Highway Administration, leaving the city on the hook for over $1.6 million.
City Manager Glenn Anderson outlined three possible options to cover those costs–borrowing the money from the Small Business Association at a low interest rate, getting a loan through the Michigan State Infrastructure Bank, or having the costs covered by Lansing through a special appropriations bill after the upcoming elections.
To at least keep all of their options open, the city council voted to approve moving forward with the SBA loan application.
In the meantime, little actual work to fix the roads is being done due to the labor lockout of union road contractors.
