It’s Been Eight Years Since Katrina, and Mississippi Still Hasn’t Spent Nearly $1 Billion of Recovery Money Sep 13th, 2013 @ 05:14 pm › Reported By: Britt L Eight years after Hurricane Katrina wrecked the Gulf Coast, Mississippi still hasn’t spent nearly $1 billion in federal money that was intended to recover the city from the storm. Mississippi has not yet spent $872 million from a $5.5 billion settlement congress awarded the state to re-build from the wreckage of Katrina that struck in 2005. Before the storm hit New Orleans, Katrina killed 238 people in Mississippi and caused tens of billions of dollars in heavy damage, specifically in coastal counties. Some of the money is currently tied up because of plans to expand the state-owned Port of Gulf port, and the rest of the money is allocated for projects that have yet been finalized. Those who have a say in what happens to the money claim that the projects that are being funded with the recovery money are located far away from the Katrina strike zone and have nothing to do with the re-building of Mississippi. Other projects haven’t promised to create jobs for the people who suffered from the storm. “The pace of spending has been partly due to difficulty satisfying federal requirements,” says Ashley Edwards, director of the state’s Office of Recovery. The state planned on building a parking garage in Starkville near the Mississippi University football stadium, which is more than 200 miles from Katrina’s landfall. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has specific criteria projects have to meet before money is disbursed. For example, government entities and companies have to create a certain amount of jobs for their re-built company if they wish to be funded by economic development money. Despite Mississippi’s attempts to let go of the unspent money, a lawyer for the Mississippi Center for Justice Reilly Morse questions why the money hasn’t been spent. “For a state that’s got economic development challenges, a state that’s got a difficult unemployment rate, it’s surprising,” said the lawyer. As of March 31 2013, Louisiana spent 91 percent of the $10.5 billion awarded to the state by the HUD program. Mississippi still has about $164 million going into a home repair program that is ongoing but hasn’t made much improvement. Most of the money in the budget given to Mississippi has gone to expanding only the Gulf port, and nothing more. No jobs were created from the project building the Gulf, said current Gov. Phil Bryant. The gulf’s project- worth $581 million- has been used to elevate the port 25 feet to thwart a storm surge. Gulfport City Councilman Rusty Walker says he wants money from the gulf project to be put into other projects in Mississippi. “It’s time to take the money back,” said Walker. However, Port Executive Direction Jonathan Daniels says the port needs all the money it can get, in an attempt to keep building and reaching the goal of creating 1,200 jobs. “If we don’t complete the project, then essentially we’re sitting here with a big field and very little ability to expand,” he said. “The best way for us not to reach our job goals would be to remove the money.”
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 20:01:30 +0000