Dallas spent nearly $7 million on Katrina evacuees

[TexasStooge]

Most of expense was for manpower; half still not reimbursed by FEMA

By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News

As evacuees from Hurricane Katrina poured into Dallas shelters by the thousands, city officials started spending: $128,000 for cots and blankets; $91,000 for portable showers and sinks; $2,000 for children's toys – from Crayolas to Chinese checkers.

But these costs were pocket change compared with the city's primary expense: manpower. Of the nearly $7 million Dallas spent to aid hurricane evacuees from the Gulf Coast during September, about $4.1 million paid police and firefighters for overtime work, according to a Dallas Morning News review of city expense records.

An additional $264,000 went to civilian overtime. And of the $2.1 million spent housing evacuees at the Dallas Convention Center and Reunion Arena, 60 percent funded private security guards, janitors and other contract laborers.

As of Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had reimbursed Dallas for $3.5 million, about half of its Katrina costs.

City officials say that there's a FEMA auditor working at City Hall – and that they're still waiting for $3.3 million in Katrina expenses.

"Anytime you're running a 24-hour operation with several thousand people, it's all hands on deck," City Manager Mary Suhm said. "While we were willing to help, we also need to be sure the citizens of Dallas are going to have their tax dollars protected."

Fort Worth has received about $7 million in reimbursements but is still owed $2.2 million, mostly for personnel expenses, Mayor Mike Moncrief said.

He toured Fort Worth's emergency operations center Monday with Sen. John Cornyn, who said at a news conference afterward that he was confident the federal government would pay the city's entire tab for housing and assisting Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

"The federal government needs to step up and make sure it does not leave the financial burden of that response on the people who opened their arms and their hearts to take care of people during times of need," said Mr. Cornyn, R-Texas.

It's no surprise to Dallas police Lt. Rob Sherwin that police and fire overtime costs made up 60 percent of the Katrina price tag in Dallas. It was a people-centered crisis, he said – one that, from the time the first buses packed with evacuees rolled into Dallas to the day the last Hurricane Rita evacuees left Reunion Arena, "touched everybody" in the department. During the peak days, officers were dispatched 150 per shift to the Convention Center and Reunion Arena.

Overworked civilians

It was a similar story for Dallas' civilian employees – particularly those charged with staffing and supplying the two downtown shelters.

Heading into Labor Day weekend, Mark Duebner, Dallas' director of business development and procurement services, knew the city would probably see some hurricane evacuees. But he didn't anticipate he'd play a big role.

In such cases, the state generally provided cots and other supplies; the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and local food banks were all on board for Katrina response. In fact, to that point, his only procurement request had been simple: locating toilet paper and janitorial supplies for small, makeshift shelters at local recreation centers.

It was the first of 31 straight days of work for Mr. Duebner. By the following morning, he'd learned that hundreds of buses were on the way to the Convention Center and Reunion Arena – and that the state and Red Cross had run out of cots.

Try finding thousands of cots on a holiday weekend, Mr. Duebner suggests. His first order never materialized, after a truck he hired to pick them up in Houston arrived at the warehouse and found it closed. He waited for his second order at 6 a.m. in a flatbed trailer outside a Cockrell Hill Wal-Mart – only to find that the truck en route to the store had been diverted to Louisiana.

Most of the first evacuees in Dallas shelters that night slept not on cots, but on donated air mattresses and blankets spread out on the floor. In the coming nights, they'd sleep on "smaller batches" of cots purchased from retailers like high-end sporting goods store REI – until industrial supplier Grainger came through with more.

Despite the difficulty in finding them, the city eventually paid $8,500 to have the cots fumigated and destroyed after the evacuees had moved out of city shelters.

"Some of [the evacuees] slept their first night in the clothes they were wearing for the first eight to 10 days, in squalid conditions," said Kenny Shaw, who heads the city's office of emergency management.

For Mr. Duebner, the cots were only the beginning of the struggle. After a diarrhea outbreak in the Convention Center, he ordered hundreds of bottles of hand sanitizer – only to find that because of the substances' high alcohol content, they had to be shipped by ground.

Difficulty with showers

Showers were equally difficult to provide. The city ordered two-unit and six-unit portable showers, but they took a week to arrive. In the meantime, Dallas scrambled for a replacement, eventually contracting with the Irving Fire Department's hazardous-materials team to use individual decontamination showers.

Dallas purchasing officials weren't exactly bargain shoppers in the days after the Gulf Coast evacuation; they didn't have time to be. They tried to compare prices or use contracted city vendors, Mr. Duebner said. But there wasn't a formal bidding process – and, by law, one is not required during an emergency.

"Without slowing down the purchase, we tried to make the best decisions possible," he said.

These contracts and purchases included more than $10,000 to power-wash portable toilets and medical pads; $7,900 for directional signs; $27,000 in cab fares; $13,500 for laundry bags; and $54,000 in carpet cleaning and replacement.

Staff writer Jeff Mosier contributed to this report.

[ROCK]

I haven't seen the exact figure but I am willing to bet we spent twice that down here in Houston...

[MGC]

Texas will end up spending more than that once you figure all the new jails you will have to build.....MGC

[Dionne]

$7,000,000......????? I could show you places on the coast that lost that much money in one square block.

It is understandable that the evacuees/refugees have become a burden to numerous metropolitan areas.

I can tell you this.......they would all just as soon that Katrina did not happen and that they had a place called home.

[ROCK]

Texas will end up spending more than that once you figure all the new jails you will have to build.....MGC

not funny I know but it is sort of true.

Read in the paper today that NO doesn't want any free loaders back in the city. If you come back be prepared to work, pay taxes, etc. That is just wonderful....

[Pearl River]

ROCK wrote

MGC wrote:
Texas will end up spending more than that once you figure all the new jails you will have to build.....MGC



not funny I know but it is sort of true.

Read in the paper today that NO doesn't want any free loaders back in the city. If you come back be prepared to work, pay taxes, etc. That is just wonderful....

Don't blame it all on those from New Orleans. Several from MS have been arrested for FEMA fraud along the way.

[Sean in New Orleans]

That is nice that they paid for the displaced residents. But, many people also fail to mention and realize that 1000's of new automobiles were bought in Texas, as well, by displaced residents that caused a very significant increase in sales tax collections for that State. In late Fall, there was an article about this in the Dallas morning news.

[ROCK]

That is nice that they paid for the displaced residents. But, many people also fail to mention and realize that 1000's of new automobiles were bought in Texas, as well, by displaced residents that caused a very significant increase in sales tax collections for that State. In late Fall, there was an article about this in the Dallas morning news.

Sales Tax? from what? maybe from the $2k FEMA cards. Thats about it. Any extra revenue generated by displaced residents will get eaten up by cost to house, feed, find jobs, extra police, schooling etc etc...It was a nice gesture in the beginning but some of these people need to go back.

[MGC]

Rock, there is no place to go back to for many of the displaced. I was just in New Orleans Friday and things are not moving. It will be years before there are places for these people to come back to.....MGC

[ROCK]

Rock, there is no place to go back to for many of the displaced. I was just in New Orleans Friday and things are not moving. It will be years before there are places for these people to come back to.....MGC

The outer parishes I heard are coming back to some degree. I deal with a lot of contractors here in Houston. There is plenty of work in NO to go back to. Now finding a place to stay while you work is a different story.

I have heard first hand from co-workers that recently visited that there are illegal immigrants from Mexico lining up to work. You drive by and pick them up. Also heard Burger King offering $12 a hour to flip burgers with bonuses after two months of $250- $500. There is something to go back to however the majority of the people who left were letting the state take care of them. They don't know how to work for themselves...IMO

[Lindaloo]

ROCK wrote

MGC wrote:
Texas will end up spending more than that once you figure all the new jails you will have to build.....MGC



not funny I know but it is sort of true.

Read in the paper today that NO doesn't want any free loaders back in the city. If you come back be prepared to work, pay taxes, etc. That is just wonderful....

Don't blame it all on those from New Orleans. Several from MS have been arrested for FEMA fraud along the way.

Yeah and our crime rate in MS is at an all time high while N.O. crime rate is down, go figure. They should set up their own FEMA trailer parks in Louisiana and get them out of Mississippi so we can take care of our own people.

[ROCK]

Houston crime rate has risen to the point where the city is asking for more police officers. Hate to put the welcome mat up from people in need but this has gotten out of hand.

[Lindaloo]

I agree ROCK.

[CajunMama]

Crime is up in other Louisiana cities too. I've been saying each town in the US needs to put up one family, get them settled in and get them WORKING. Spread out the trouble makers. I know it's a dream and it'll never happen.