The Role of Local Government Capacity in Predicting Hazard Mitigation Funding in North Carolina

• Alasqa Farley, Economics, University of Delaware

• A.R. Siders, Public Policy, University of Delaware

As natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, local governments are playing an increasingly important role in preparing for and responding to hazards. This research looks at which parts of local government capacity are most strongly related to how much funding local jurisdictions receive from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). Past research has mostly focused on how need or risk affect federal aid distribution, but there hasn’t been as much attention on how differences in local government capacity might influence access to federal mitigation funds. To explore this relationship, I use a dataset on local disaster management capacity across North Carolina and link it with local-level HMGP funding data. I also include Expected Annual Loss scores from FEMA’s National Risk Index to control for differences in hazard exposure. I use regression analysis to figure out which aspects of local government capacity, such as plans, staffing, or fiscal resources, are associated with higher levels of funding. Early results show that counties with higher capacity are more likely to receive more HMGP funding, even when risk is taken into account. This suggests that not all communities are equally equipped to secure disaster aid, which implies some level of inequity in the distribution of federal funding.