Cortland County is working to update the County's Hazard Mitigation Plan to ensure the County and its municipalities remain eligible to apply for and receive future federal mitigation grant funding.

A Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) is a living document that communities use to reduce their vulnerability to hazards. HMPs for the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction and repeated damage. They create a framework for risk-based decision making to reduce damages to lives, property and the economy from future disasters.

The update of this plan allows the county and participating jurisdictions to continue to be eligible for future pre-disaster mitigation funding from FEMA. Example of grant-eligible projects include home acquisitions or elevations - to their remove houses located in the floodplain to generate open space and increase flood storage or to raise their first floor above the FEMA base flood elevations - and local flood control measures. Ultimately, these actions reduce vulnerability, and communities are able to recover more quickly from disasters.

Public participation and feedback are a vital part of the hazard mitigation planning process. Cortland County has developed a Citizen Preparedness Survey to provide the public an opportunity to contribute to the 2020 HMP update. The survey is anonymous and will be used to develop portions of the plan.