You can't take back that which you already obligated.
Eric Holdeman | November 21, 2014
"Lawyer up" is a term that comes to mind these days when it comes to disaster recovery. Certainly that is something that a water district in Florida did, see FEMA Loses Fight To Fla. Water District Over $21M For Repairs.
One of the greatest fears "that we used to have" is that FEMA would approve funding for a disaster recovery project and obligate the funds. Then you proceed, do the work and complete the project. Whoa, the FEMA Inspector General (IG) comes along maybe years later and says that the work and funding was done improperly. They then de-obligate the funding, and you are supposed to come up with the funds to pay the federal government back -- for their mistake.
It appears to me that that legal maneuver will no longer be in the IG's bag of tricks. If they made the mistake, they "own it" and the lick is on them and they eat the bad decisions they made. This is a really big deal!
Not being a lawyer, but knowing the law can be complex, I expect that the FEMA IG will look for other "irregularities" in order to recover the funds that they say were spent inappropriately.
Personally, I say make them pay for their mistakes out of their operational funds and that will make them more careful and accountable for their decisions. No do-overs!
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