HTHA suffered $7M in Gustav damages

The Houma-Terrebonne Housing Authority accrued a total of $7 million worth of storm damages to both its low-income housing complexes, Senator Circle and Bayou Towers, in 2008.

Experts say the agency has exhausted its rollover funding from 2006, 2007 and 2008 to have a break-even year for 2009.

Christina Falcone, a certified public accountant with Pennsylvania-based Casterline Associates accounting firm, presented the information at last week’s housing authority board meeting.

The fee accountant said the housing authority adopted a balanced budget for 2009, despite the disasters and damage to the Bayou Towers and Senator Circle housing complexes in 2008.

With flooding, roof repairs and mold remediation issues at both complexes, Duplantis Design Company in Thibodaux gave the housing authority a $7 million price tag to renovate the buildings.

To generate money for the repairs, Housing Authority Director Wayne Thibodeaux said the agency received $3.6 million in disaster aid from the Department of Housing & Urban Development for recovery efforts.

The agency also dedicated its entire capital outlay budget for 2008 of $800,000 to the recovery efforts.

With the repairs at Senator Circle, the agency went over budget. Thibodeaux said the authority resorted to using the money from its 2006 and 2007 capital outlay budgets to cover the additional expenses.

Additional funds were generated through flood insurance monies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Thibodeaux said.

“We are really in critical condition as to where we can get revenue to supplement all that has happened,” Thibodeaux said. “Hopefully, we can get to an offset where we are not on the red side of all of this.”

The housing authority lost $600,000 in rental income because the agency suspended rent payments for displaced housing residents during the 2008 storms.

“Normally, we would have that rental income coming in,” Falcone said. “The agency would actually produce income. But with the disasters and the damage, the agency has had to muddle through the year.

“This was a year where revenue came into the agency and expenses came out,” she added. “The agency really didn’t make any money this year. But it didn’t lose money either.”

Falcone said fortunately the agency did not have to use its reserve fund to supplement any of its expenses. However, the agency will have to depend on future grants to help supplement its finances.

“We need to be mindful of where money is being spent for the upcoming year,” she informed the housing authority board.

The 2010 fiscal budget is not complete. However, Falcone projects that 2010 could be a turnaround year for the housing authority. She said the agency will have its rental income back from Bayou Towers and Senator Circle.

Currently, Thibodeaux said Bayou Towers is at 88 percent occupancy, while Senator Circle is at less than 50 percent. Renovations to the damaged apartments in Senator Circle are slated to be complete in coming weeks.