Long Island Storm Bill Could Top $520M

Repair costs for Long Island, N.Y., municipalities hit by Superstorm Sandy could top $520 million.

Newsday reports that the bill reflects the most recent estimates for the island’s 13 towns, two cities and 10 of its hardest-hit villages.

Among the big-ticket items is Long Beach’s destroyed boardwalk, estimated to cost $25 million. The ferry terminal and boathouse in Ocean Beach could cost $1 million to repair.

Municipalities are looking to FEMA for help.

FEMA usually reimburses three-quarters of the cost of emergency cleanup and repairs after a natural disaster. But it is a reimbursement program in which money must be expended first.

Officials also are contemplating tapping already strained budgets to pay for the work.