Travis County Commissioners Court
October 18, 2005
Item 4
Number 4, receive update and take appropriate action on Travis County assistance to persons affected lie hurricane katrina.
>> > just to reiterate, the Commissioners court waived residence fee for hurricane katrina evacuees that is due to expire on November 8th. With the thought behind that being that they would have been in our community for 60 days and would then be eligible as residents to apply for the various services that we provide through health and human services. Our concern now, however, is a continuing population of Texas coastal residents who on November 8th will not have met the 60-day requirement and may still have needs that the county might seek to assist with. And so the department, after having an opportunity to determine when these folks might be able to return home or if they can return home, will come back to you with the proposal regarding the extension for hurricane rita. But katrina residents as of November 8th will be residents, based on our definition.
>> can you also tell me, sherri -- excuse me -- the social services that have been extended to the evacuees, have there been a tracking of the increase in service needs as far as, you know, funding for a certain amount, but with the extra services and things that have been rendered, would that also fall into the category of the -- not only the employee payroll expenses but also the social services that we also have been utilizing? Are those projections going to be highlighted when you come out with the overall expenditures of the services that we've been able to render to the evacuees whether it be rita or katrina evacuees?
>> the staff cost related to health and human services are primarily related to staff who were actually working at the convention center with the evacuees. At present, the food products that we've been able to provide to the evacuees have come to us at no cost from the capital area food bank. Once they are no longer able to provide it to us at no cost, we will continue to track that, but what we will need -- we'll need some indication from fema as to how long we could track our expenses and have them be eligible for reimbursement.
>> and we don't know that at this time.
>> right. We do have a mechanism within our data system to track those residents who self-identify as hurricane rita evacuees or hurricane katrina evacuees. We can track them separately. So at any pointed we need to extrapolate those numbers, we can.
>> okay, good.
>> anything else on number 4? You will let us know when to put it back on.
>> yes.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 5:21 PM