Cumberland Absorbs Nearly $690,000 in Snowstorm Costs After FEMA Denies Disaster Aid

Cumberland will have to cover roughly $690,000 in snow removal costs from a major winter storm after the federal government declined Rhode Island's disaster relief request, a decision town officials learned of just days before amending the fiscal year 2026 budget.

At a July 7 special meeting, the Cumberland Town Council voted 5-0 to approve an amended version of Ordinance 26-11A, the operating budget amendment for the fiscal year that closed June 30. The council also approved a related tax exemption ordinance and a $6,000 annual payment to The Beacon Mutual Insurance Company for police and EMS administrative services, according to the meeting's published recording.

The budget amendment's central complication involves the storm costs. Mayor Jeffrey J. Muta told the council that the administration learned on July 2 that the disaster declaration covering the storm — filed at the state level for all of Rhode Island — had been declined at the federal level. He said the statewide request totaled roughly $20 million, with Cumberland's share, submitted through the town's emergency management office, coming to just under $690,000.

The mayor said the town has no ability to respond to the denial because it came after the fiscal year had already ended and after tax bills had gone out in early May. "By July 2nd, you can't respond to that," he said, noting that even under normal timing the town would have needed to know months earlier to adjust tax bills. Rather than book the cost as a loss, the amended budget keeps the storm expense listed as a receivable — an accounting placeholder assuming the money may still arrive — while the town waits to see whether the decision is reversed or whether other funding materializes.

District 4 Councilor Jodi Sweet pressed the mayor on the implications for taxpayers, asking him to confirm that residents who pay into the federal system will receive no reimbursement for what she described as the largest snowfall since the 1970s. The mayor confirmed the July 2 denial applied statewide and said he could not explain why the decision came so late in the process. Sweet said she believed "most people felt that was a legitimate expense that would have been approved," while also crediting public works and highway crews, along with mutual aid crews from Vermont, for the storm cleanup. The mayor said it was "a shame" the expense wasn't approved but stopped short of detailing what happens if the money never comes through.

Muta told the council that if the federal reimbursement does not materialize and the town cannot absorb the cost within the existing budget, officials will need to "make up for it in some way, shape, or form." He said the town's actual property tax collections won't be fully clear until the August payment period, due to a 60-day grace rule, adding uncertainty to how the shortfall will ultimately be handled.

Apart from the storm-related receivable, the amendment reconciled several other figures, including updated school department revenue reflecting the school committee's own budget amendments, restored motor vehicle phase-out funding from the state, and adjusted departmental spending lines. The mayor flagged ongoing concern about public safety overtime, injured-on-duty costs, and severance payouts, saying those categories could still produce small deficits despite the reconciliation.

The budget amendment and the related tax exemption ordinance are now final. The council did not set a specific date for further discussion of the snowstorm reimbursement, saying the picture may become clearer after the August tax collection period.