The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 4/1/8
Gov. Haley Barbour’s plan to take $25 million from a special Hurricane Katrina fund to use on Toyota-related highways in Northeast Mississippi apparently has been scrapped.
The Senate, on an amendment offered by Appropriations Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, removed the $25 million from the Department of Transportation budget and placed it in a fund that could be used to partially fund the Medicaid shortfall or other needs on the Gulf Coast.
Early this session Barbour had proposed taking $25 million from the Katrina fund – established in 2006 to provide the state’s match to the federal government for recovery money – to improve Northeast Mississippi highways. Barbour said the money is available because the federal government is not requiring as large a match as once was thought.
Nunnelee said the Barbour administration had come to the conclusion that the transfer to Northeast Mississippi highways would not pass this year for a number of reasons.
“It’s difficult to take money out of (Katrina) fund to build highways in north Mississippi when so many Gulf Coast senators say we need your help,” Nunnelee said. Plus, Nunnelee said the Department of Transportation is not in position to spend the $25 million on Toyota-related highways this year.
