BILOXI -- Numerous recent national and regional media reports and opinions stop just short of saying Mississippi has stolen federal Katrina-recovery dollars from Louisiana.
"Mississippi might as well have grabbed the (New Orleans) levee loot; it certainly grabbed everything else," penned Times-Picayune staff writer James Gill in a column titled "Cleaning up, the Mississippi way." Although national media reports weren't as blunt, the message was similar: Per capita, Mississippians have made out like bandits in federal Katrina-relief spending.
But is it true? Per capita, have we received more?
That's questionable.
About 65,000 homes in Mississippi were destroyed (not just "damaged" as numerous news outlets are reporting) by Katrina. About 205,000 homes in Louisiana were damaged either with "major" or "severe" damage, according to the state's Web site. It also noted that of the 205,000 homes, 169,000 had major or severe flooding. The number includes 82,000 rental units.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office says federal hurricane-relief spending to date is about $116 billion.
Mississippi has received about $23.5 billion of that total, including money that went to repair federal facilities here.
Though no one in Louisiana appears to have a firm number on how much has been spent there, it would be reasonable to assume the bulk of the remaining $92.5 billion Mississippi wasn't able to "grab" went to Louisiana.
Conservatively assuming Louisiana received only $75 billion of that spending, that would put Louisiana slightly ahead, per capita, of those who lost their homes, at $366,000 in federal spending for each. Mississippi's total federal spending amounts to $361,000 per devastated homeowner.
Now, some pundits who are lamenting Louisiana being shortchanged use the total population of Louisiana, which dwarfs that of Mississippi. But another way to look at that would be that a far larger percentage of Mississippians were harmed by Katrina.
Those leveling the complaints about Mississippi also use only federal Community Development Block Grant funding, from U.S. Housing and Urban Development, as their basis. Louisiana received $10.4 billion; Mississippi, $5.5 billion. Using the number of destroyed homes, Mississippians averaged $84,600 each; Louisianians, only $50,500 each.
So if there is a disparity, why?
Louisiana 'whining'
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour believes it's because Mississippi had a plan when it went to Congress, hat in hand, after Katrina.
"We presented a very specific, reasonable request... ," Barbour said. "We didn't ask for everything we ever dreamed of, multiplied by two."
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