" La. lawmakers tackling costly hurricane relief issues budget crisis in special session"
Tags: la gov, financesFrom this:
Louisiana lawmakers have just over two weeks to chart their hurricane-ravaged state's future, from rewriting building codes to weighing tax breaks to changing how employment benefits are calculated, and then answering the big question: how to pay for it all.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the special session starting Sunday for the Legislature to address 77 hurricane-related issues. It has to end by Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving.
"Frankly, I think it's too much to do in 16 days, but we'll do our best," Democratic Sen. Butch Gautreaux said.
Looming over the session is the already $971 million hole in the state's $18.7 billion budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year that run through June 30.
One of the tasks awaiting lawmakers is figuring out how to calculate property taxes for homeowners whose properties were damaged or washed away by hurricanes Katrina or Rita.
Property tax bills are normally mailed at the end of the year, but some lawmakers want to postpone the deadline for taxes on those homes.
Doing that, though, would mean delaying money that schools, cities and other local governments use to provide services such as garbage collection, transportation and education.
"This is not a very easy issue," said Republican Sen. Tom Schedler. "None of it is going to be pretty, and there is no right or wrong answer."
