News

County sees 'great first step' in receiving FEMA reimbursements

By Bill Moss, Published: November 10, 2025

Henderson County is expected to begin receiving some federal reimbursement in the next month to begin paying for the estimated $60 million the county has spent or is obligated to spend to remove debris left in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

In the last few days, the county learned that $15.7 million in federal funding has been obligated to the county to begin the process of paying for debris removal.
“We’ve actually had a big success in the last three or four days,” Henderson County Manager John Mitchell said Monday. “This is a great first step.”
The county is holding invoices for $32 million from debris removal companies that have hauled thousands of loads from the county. Estimates indicate the total amount for debris removal could go as high as $60 million.
Mitchell said the county learned it would be receiving $15.7 million to pay part of the $32 million it owes to debris removal companies after direct intervention from federal lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Budd and Rep. Chuck Edwards.
“Senator Budd’s people had a lot to do with it. We also had direct involvement with Chuck Edwards,” Mitchell said.
The county should begin receiving the money now obligated in the next 30 days and will continue “going through the process” for the remainder of the funds it is owed, Mitchell said.
“I’m confident we are going to be reimbursed,” he said.
The notice that Henderson County is expected to begin receiving federal reimbursement for some of the money it has spent in Hurricane debris removal came after Board of County Commissioners Chair Bill Lapsley, in a self-described rant rising from months of frustration, told his colleagues on the Local Government Committee for Cooperative Action in October that although the work is eligible for FEMA reimbursement the county has seen no checks.
“We have talked with Congressman Edwards, we’ve talked with our state representatives, we’ve talked with state staff,” Lapsley said during the quarterly meeting of the LGCCA on Oct. 21. “Manager Mitchell and I have met with the FEMA representative over the whole region and expressed our displeasure with the situation, about six weeks ago. We were promised action and that things would get done here, and to be quite honest with you, I don’t see a whole lot of daylight at the end of the tunnel. I’m really, really concerned about the situation that we’re in.”
“The contractor has expressed their displeasure again to us last week,” Lapsley said. “We find ourselves in a very, very awkward and bad situation … and that’s just the debris removal issue. The Hazard Mitigation Program to help people who were wiped out by this flood is another deal (where) we’ve expressed our displeasure with how slow it’s going.”
Haywood County, he pointed out, is still awaiting FEMA payments to cover expenditures it incurred in Tropical Storm Fred in 2021.
“This is just not appropriate. Disgusted is putting it lightly with how not only we’re being treated, but the people in Western North Carolina,” Lapsley said. “And I don’t know if it’s politics, I don’t know if it’s ineptness on the part of federal staff. I don’t know, I don’t have an answer and I’m very upset.”
The town of Laurel Park, which has millions of dollars worth of landslide, road and storm drainage repairs to make, has also seen little to no response from its reimbursement requests.
“It’s frustrating to all of us,” Mayor Carey O’Cain said at the October meeting. “I don’t know if it would behoove us or be of any help but I’m sure every mayor here would be willing to sign a joint letter to reinforce our position that you can’t bankrupt our county by not acting. But that’s what they’re trying to do.”
Lapsley said at the LGCCA meeting that the county had tried writing letters, only to be met with the sound of crickets.
“We’ve written letters to (Homeland Security) Secretary (Kristi) Noem. We get no reply, we don’t get a phone call, we don’t get an acknowledgement,” he said. “We’re told by Senator Budd that he has tried to call Secretary Noem’s office and can’t get a return phone call. We’re told by Rep. Edwards that he’s talked to the office of the vice president and he’s not getting a response. … We’re going to keep pounding and pounding. I’m ready to go to Washington if it’ll do any good. My guess is it probably won’t. The person I meet across the table is just going to stare at me and say, ‘We’re doing the best we can, we’ll get to you when we get to you.’”
Mitchell on Monday said he expected the process of receiving federal reimbursements associated with Helene to continue to be complicated.