Big bill coming due
Louisiana lawmakers can juggle election dates, set up a statewide minimum building code, try to keep someone from buying a car damaged from the hurricanes and maybe even reinvent a school district.
But the Legislature is pretty convinced it can’t afford much more help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The state expects a bill from FEMA that, quite frankly, it probably can’t pay without inflicting major damage on state services – even with a three-to-five year payment plan.
As a matter of perspective, here’s what the $3.7 billion the state expects to owe FEMA looks like compared to the state budget before the hurricanes of August and September:
-- It’s almost $1 billion more than the Minimum Foundation Program, the state’s funding for public schools.
-- It’s eight times larger that all of the money budgeted for prisons, probation and parole services.
-- It’s almost 85 percent of the state $4.4 billion that the state was projected to receive in a 25-year payout in the 1998 settlement with tobacco companies.
But the Legislature is pretty convinced it can’t afford much more help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The state expects a bill from FEMA that, quite frankly, it probably can’t pay without inflicting major damage on state services – even with a three-to-five year payment plan.
As a matter of perspective, here’s what the $3.7 billion the state expects to owe FEMA looks like compared to the state budget before the hurricanes of August and September:
-- It’s almost $1 billion more than the Minimum Foundation Program, the state’s funding for public schools.
-- It’s eight times larger that all of the money budgeted for prisons, probation and parole services.
-- It’s almost 85 percent of the state $4.4 billion that the state was projected to receive in a 25-year payout in the 1998 settlement with tobacco companies.
posted by The Times at 8:32 AM
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