State Looking To Feds For More Flood Assistance Dollars
There are things you can budget for and there are things you'd never imagine you'd need to budget for. The past week's flooding events throughout South Louisiana certainly fall under the heading of the latter.
That's why state officials are petitioning the federal government for even more money to assist in flood recovery across the state. Already Louisiana has spent more that $12.5 million to help its citizens recover from the recent historic rains. The federal government is currently reimbursing the state 75% of all monies spent on flood recovery.
Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne says the state is hoping for even more federal dollars as the amount of money needed to recover from flooding continues to grow.
It’s unfortunate to want to hope that you get to this level, but we hope that we’re going to have a 90-10 match, where the federal government will be responsible for 90%, and the state will be responsible for 10%.
Dardenne said in his comments to the Louisiana Radio Network that the 75% reimbursement figure automatically comes with a disaster declaration. While he doesn't hope for more damage. He is certainly hoping that the damage already incurred will qualify for the reimbursement at a much higher rate.
Our Congressional delegation is going to be charged with the responsivity of trying to convince their colleagues that there ought to be a 90-10 match.
That's because it really will take an act of Congress to get that aid amount raised to the 90-10 level.
We are going to spend whatever is necessary to make sure we can prevent the loss of life and we can try to do everything we can to make life as comfortable as possible for those that have been displaced.
While there is never a good time for a disaster this disaster could not have come for a worse time for Louisiana. The current budget crisis has the state strapped for cash already. This will just add to the expenditures that the legislature will have figure out how to pay for.