City juggles bills while waiting reimbursements

It’s been 19 months since hurricanes Gustav and Ike pounded the Tri-parish region and Morgan City Finance Director Deborah Garber is still waiting on a check.

The payment – just shy of $1.2 million – is owed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the city for expenses it incurred in the aftermath of the two storms.

“It’s definitely put a hurt on our cash flow,” Garber said. “We’ve had to borrow money from our utility account, for instance, to pay some of our expenditures that we budgeted in 2010.”

Garber said that FEMA is obligated to pay the money, however, the latest snag in getting reimbursed is with the state.

“All money from the federal government flows to the state and then to us,” she explained. “I am in the process of justifying all of our claims with FEMA to the state in order to get paid. It’s like I have to justify [post-storm expenditures] twice.”

According to Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte, the city is owed $1.192 million in work orders related to the two storms.

“The city expended approximately $2.4 million in hurricane restoration work and has received $1.47 million in reimbursement,” he recently told the city council. “And we continue to deal with repairs and restoration work throughout all city departments.”

In the days and weeks after Gustav and Ike, Morgan City workers had to repair street lighting served by underground electric circuits – one of many repairs now owed by FEMA. Matte said contractors provided the underground boring and city crews pulled the wire, installed fixtures, repaired poles and made connections to provide lighting.

In all, $885,715 in Gustav work-related items remain unpaid. City Hall spokesperson Robbie Landry said that includes:

• $262,678 for emergency measures

• $428,027 for repairs to power lines

• $61,383 for tree removal

• $72,150 for cleaning the city’s Swamp Gardens

• $61,475 for a new roof at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Unpaid balances in the aftermath of Ike include $7,379 for restoring fixtures at the electrical department, $49,553 for debris removal and $6,900 for emergency measures – closing the city’s floodgates and storm preparations.

“We’ve been assured that FEMA will pay these amounts,” the mayor said.