City Will Waive Permit Fees For Owner-Occupied Homes Flood Repair

Mayor Cavalier Johnson holds onto a city garbage truck while a skid steer deposits flood debris. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The City of Milwaukee is poised to make it a little less costly for approximately 7,000 homeowners to repair their homes after the 1,000-year storm.

A proposal pending before the Common Council would waive permit fees to repair owner-occupied homes that were damaged during the storm.

Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) Commissioner Jezamil Arroyo-Vega said approximately 7,000 homes were reported to the 211 support line as damaged. Sixty-eight percent are owner-occupied, she said, and 1,400 suffered structural damage.

DNS has a sense of the volume of permit requests that could be coming. Several dozen have already been submitted and would be refunded, but thousands more are expected. The department’s “really, really rough data” shows that 907 water heaters, 780 furnaces, 204 electrical panels and 309 pieces of HVAC equipment were damaged.

The foregone permit revenue would total between $100,000 and $350,000, with DNS estimating the high end of the range based on structural repairs being made. Applications would need to be made by Dec. 31.

The idea was first floated by council members DiAndre Jackson and Lamont Westmoreland and supported by DNS.

“If we are in crisis, we are in danger, we should go after the low hanging fruit. Just a little bit to help out and make the world better,” said Jackson to the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Westmoreland told the Finance & Personnel Committee he had the same thought.

“These are our neighbors, our residents, our housing stock,” said finance chair Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic. She said not only was it “moral and just,” but it was an investment in the city’s tax base by ensuring its housing stock was maintained.

FEMA, according to Westmoreland, was not likely to reimburse the city for its cost in waiving the fees. Arroyo-Vega said that by reducing costs to repair their homes, recipients of FEMA disaster aid would have more funding to replace lost personal items, including basics like shoes and clothing.

But Ald. Scott Spiker raised concerns with the cost, including the opportunity cost of not attracting more federal dollars or philanthropic support, and possible legal liability.

“Why is the city eating [the cost] instead of the insurers or FEMA?” asked the alderman. “What I’m really scared of is what I’m always scared of. Which is to say with our hearts we’re doing good here, but not thinking through with our heads what we’re actually doing.”

He initially suggested waiting for FEMA to define better what it would cover. He also raised concern that favoring owner-occupants could expose the city to a legal challenge, but after reading an opinion from the City Attorney’s Office, he endorsed the proposal and signed on as a co-sponsor.

“The reality is we are about to face winter,” said Arroyo-Vega of the need to move forward.

The proposal is sponsored by Westmoreland, Jackson, Dimitrijevic, Spiker, Sharlen P. Moore and Peter Burgelis.

The DNS commissioner would have the authority to waive fees on a case-by-case basis, which would allow the city to include homes that were not previously reported to 211 as damaged. Arroyo-Vega said the previously reported homes have already been flagged in the city’s permitting system.

“I want to thank you for your exceptional work and going above and beyond and adding a very human, emphatic component to this,” said Dimitrijevic to Arroyo-Vega. “People are in need and we need to do all we can.”

Ald. Milele A. Coggs was the lone committee member to abstain from voting for the proposal. The full council will consider the proposal at its Sept. 23 meeting.

A Milwaukee Health Department density map indicates that repair claims are expected to come from three targeted areas: a small pocket of Bay View, the southwest corner of the city and a large swath of the middle of the city’s northwest side centered on W. Hampton Avenue.

Several other storm response proposals are still being considered, including bonus pay for city workers that worked special assignments and an $825,000 no-interest loan fund to make repairs.

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