CENTRAL- The City of Central received notice this week that FEMA was denying a large portion of their $1.3 million dollar request for reimbursements for damage incurred on their roads from the August 2016 floods.

The letter from FEMA said about $100,000 would be paid to the city. According to the letter, "FEMA determined certain project costs partially ineligible for the following reasons: the Applicant did not demonstrate that certain road sites were damaged as a direct result of the disaster event."

"It is absolutely the modus operandi of FEMA," Mayor Junior Shelton said. "If they can put you off and delay you, they hope you will go away."

Shelton says appealing their decision would be yet another waste of time, since FEMA has denied other municipalities in our area for road repairs.

"We can appeal this, but the people who handle the appeal are the ones who denied us," Shelton said. "Now, Congressman Garrett Graves is working on having a third party appellate process, which would be great but that wouldn't help us at this instance and this time."

Concerned resident James Prestridge is fed up with the system and believes it has failed the little guy.

"Very frustrated," Prestridge said. "People are dropping the ball. It's always about me, me, me... It's not about us the people that elected them."

The City of Central is expecting FEMA to issue a decision on whether it will pay for cleaning out canals. That request is pending.