Cleanup takes toll on municipal budgets

JOHN GRABER, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- Wednesday's earthquake caused millions of dollars in damage to the area's roads and bridges, but it's also costing tens of thousands of dollars in overtime pay for staffers to assess and repair the damage.

The Olympia police and fire departments racked up $22,000 in overtime pay on Wednesday alone as calls came in from residents around the clock, said assistant city manager Steve Hall.

That meant every available person in the fire department was on duty.

"We didn't even have to call them," Hall said. "It was actually very heartwarming. They knew they would be needed, so they came in."

Only a few extra police officers were called in to provide added security to downtown shops, though some officers worked long shifts. As luck would have it, the quake hit right when one shift was ending and another was beginning, so extra officers were already on the streets.

But the cost of those extra services may pale compared to what's ahead.

The bulk of overtime expenses is likely to go to building inspectors who began checking and rechecking hundreds of businesses and homes for structural damage just hours after the ground stopped shaking. They worked through the weekend, with many inspectors on loan from Thurston County, Lacey and Tumwater.

Olympia officials also are considering hiring temporary help for some of the recovery efforts.

And that's not all the bad news: So far the individual city agencies will be asked to absorb those costs in their normal budgets.

"But we are hopeful much of that will be reimbursed through FEMA or the state disaster grants," Hall said.

Hall said the city's reserve fund will be tapped if things get too tight.

In the meantime, Lacey and Tumwater officials are breathing a sigh of relief.

"We really came through this thing very well," said Jay Eaton, Tumwater Public Works director. "We're really not incurring any costs. The damage has been really minor -- at least that we've discovered."

The same is true for Lacey.

"I really do think it is a testament to what we've learned from public building codes and we've got the benefit of being a newer city," said Scott Spence, a Lacey spokesman.

For instance, Lacey's public infrastructure damage amounts to a 2-foot crack in Afflerbaugh Road, a crack in the chimney at the Lacey Museum, and enough cracks in the ground around the Animal Services site on Martin Way to close the parking lot. The Animal Services building, which is in Olympia but run by Lacey, sustained a few cracks in its plaster, but is still open.

The North Thurston High School gym was the only building in the entire city of Lacey to get a yellow tag, meaning only limited access was allowed in it, and that has since been lifted, Spence said. No buildings in the city were red-tagged, he said.

There was other damage in Tumwater, like destroyed roads and broken gas lines in Tumwater Estates Mobile Home Park, but those bills fall on the shoulders of private property owners and businesses.

Thurston County has incurred some overtime expenses, but nothing that is likely to have significant impact on any budgets, said county administrator Linda Hoffman.

In terms of time and money spent on repairs, the county fared a lot worse in the floods of 1996 than it did in last week's quake, said Lester Olson, Thurston County Emergency Management director.

That's not to say there wasn't damage.

County building officials received more than 50 calls from private property owners seeking inspections Monday. The county is contracting with building inspectors to make assessments on some of the more difficult cases, Hoffman said.

"They've been busy and it looks like they are only going to get busier," said Don Krupp, Thurston County Development Services director.

Aside from their own work, county building officials have been working in Olympia, Rainier, Tenino and Bucoda to fill gaps there.

So who pays their salaries when building officials work on loan?

Many officials agree FEMA will probably pick up that tab.

And if not?

No one's really sure yet.

On thing that is clear though: In Olympia, the recovery effort is going to take a long time. Hall expects to dedicate several staff members to nothing but recovery work for as much as a year.

"In order to do the recovery phase right, having some dedicated staff makes some sense," Hall said.

On the web:

Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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