Day 37 – 9/27/05, LA. Gives Back Much of FEMA Money

BATON ROUGE - The Department of Health and Hospitals has declined the bulk of $352 million in disaster assistance handed to the state by the Federal Emergency Management Agency late last week, with agency officials saying that they spent only about $10 million during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The $352 million showed up in a list of projects approved by FEMA totaling $457 million, which was deposited by the federal government last week in the state of Louisiana's bank account. But the state health department has taken only the roughly $10 million that they are entitled to so far, said Bob Johannessen, the spokesman for the agency.

"We are obligated under federal law to return that money. That is what we did," said Johannessen, who noted that the agency is supposed to take only what it has actually spent.

He said that the health department eventually expects to spend about $60 million in dealing with Katrina, including such costs as the shelters and triage centers set up to evaluate people evacuated from the flooded New Orleans area. Agency officials expect to request that FEMA eventually pick up the whole tab for those kinds of items, Johannessen said. [Read more - NOLA]

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