[StBernard] Parish President Makes Comments at Gov. Blanco's Press Conference

[Westley Annis]

In a statement made during Gov. Blanco's press conference asking the federal
government to modify the Stafford Act to allow FEMA to pay normal wages for
government employees rather than just overtime wages, Parish President Jr.
Rodriguez stated the parish only had enough funds to pay employees for
another thirty days.

He stated that the Sheriff had already laid off 100 employees and parish
government had laid off another 120. With no residents living in the parish
and not one single retail establishment open, the parish had no tax revenues
to count on for income.  Rodriguez estimated that the parish would need
three years of assistance to restore operations back to normal.

The parish has a normal operating budget of $57 million dollars which does
not include law enforcement operations provided by the Sheriff's Office,
which has it's own budget.

Westley