Lee County leaders are asking FEMA for more time to save their flood insurance discounts.At the end of March, FEMA announced it was cutting its 25% flood insurance discount to policyholders in Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers Beach and unincorporated Lee County. It said those communities allowed unpermitted work to go on after Hurricane Ian and failed to provide FEMA with proper documentation.Leaders from these communities have since disputed these claims. They met with a FEMA representative last week to discuss how to resolve this.FEMA announced on April 8 that they would give these communities a second chance. They would allow leaders to submit the proper documentation by May 9. However, now leaders say they need more time."I don't think FEMA has ever truly understood the magnitude of this storm and how many people were affected by it," Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman said. "I mean, this is tens of thousands of properties that were damaged and basically what they want to see is paperwork on all the properties that were damaged, proving the ones that were damaged beyond the 50% value were rebuilt to new codes."ABC7 asked Commissioner Hamman if he were confident FEMA would grant the county an extension."I'm confident that we will do everything we can to try for the people of Lee County, and ultimately, this decision is going to be made somewhere in Washington or Atlanta. We know and hope they will make the right decision," Hamman said.If FEMA does not grant the extension, leaders from Lee County and Cape Coral say they will work around the clock to make sure they make the deadline."I will tell you that our city manager has established a timeline to try and get it done in 30 days," Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter said. " We are working 12-15 hour days. I know staff was here on Saturday. If we're only given the 30 days, we'll make sure we'll get it done in that timeframe." If you'd like to get involved, Commissioner Hamman recommends contacting your state and federal leaders."Letting them know how this would affect you as a person is probably the best thing you could do," he said.Both Commissioner Hamman and Mayor Gunter told ABC7 they feel better about communications with FEMA overall, but they still believe the system needs to be fixed."I do feel really encouraged they (FEMA) came down and met in person. It's not just people going through emails or phone calls. I think when you get face-to-face with somebody and look at the documents together, you can start to make sense of it all much better," Hamman said."At the end of this, come up with better practices, not only for FEMA's side, but our side... because there will be a next time. It may not be in the city, but it could be in some other city here in the country," Mayor Gunter said.