FEMA boosts parish's recovery funding

Thanks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, parish communities are getting a boost in their Gustav recovery funding.

FEMA announced this week it will increase the federal share for public assistance to 90 percent for Hurricane Gustav recovery. The original authorization was 75 percent, which meant communities would have only been reimbursed 75 percent of cleanup costs.

U.S. Congressman Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, along with other state and parish leaders spearheaded the drive to urge FEMA to raise its recovery funding.

“We would like to see FEMA pick up 100 percent of the Gustav recovery tab,” Scalise said in a press release.

But for now, the local governments will only have to pay 10 percent.

“It’s a pleasant surprise,” Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price said.

The storm surges from Gustav and Ike left Mandeville and other coastal communities of St. Tammany littered with huge amounts of debris.

“We appreciate the reduction because it was an expensive event, even though it didn’t hit here,” Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said.

Slidell, Mandeville and Covington officials said their cleanup efforts are completed and now they’re working with FEMA on reimbursement.

Information concerning the parish’s recovery effort or the impact the raise in reimbursement money will have was not available at press time.

Luke Bolar, spokesperson for Scalise, said local leaders would continue pressing the government until FEMA agrees to pay 100 percent of the recovery costs.