AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Texas has $134 million in unpaid bills from the emergency response to September’s Hurricane Ike — and vendors want their money.
State emergency management director Jack Colley today told the Texas Senate Finance Committee that he’s had to inform vendors that they must wait.
Gov. Rick Perry is calling for a disaster contingency fund. He sent a letter this week to Homeland Security repeating the state’s post-Ike needs. The department didn’t immediately have a comment last night.
Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle says the state’s share of the $134 million in Ike costs that are due to private vendors — is $14 million. The rest is the responsibility of the federal government.
About $3 billion in a variety of unexpected costs will need to be paid to close out the state’s 2008-2009 budget period, which ends Aug. 31. About $2 billion of that is the state’s share of costs from Hurricane Ike, including the $14 million for private vendors.