NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Gove. Bill Lee made it clear Thursday that East Tennessee's recovery will take years, perhaps even decades.
The problem is many of the counties in East Tennessee don't have enough money available to start the recovery process. Authorities confirmed on Thursday night that 17 people have died in the state as a result of Hurricane Helene.
"Today we’re announcing the Helene Emergency Assistance Loan Program, or what we’re calling the HEAL program," said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
Helping East Tennessee HEAL
The HEAL program will essentially provide impacted counties $65 million for debris removal and $35 million for clean water recovery efforts. The funds will be loaned to federally declared disaster counties with a zero percent interest rate. Eventually, the federal government will reimburse Tennessee those funds, but Gov. Lee wanted to make sure especially poor counties have that money and can spend it now.
"A county mayor saying to me, 'We need to start spending money to clean this up, but we may not be able to make payroll if we have to spend the money on cleanup,'" said Gov. Lee.
Where the state is getting that $100 million may end up being controversial. Tennessee is the only state in the nation that does a Medicare block grant with the federal government. Under the grant, money they don't spend on insurance for those in need can be spent on other health-related TennCare programs.
"TennCare has made proposals to us as a part of our budget process moving forward," said Lee.
But instead of some of those proposals from TennCare, at least initially, they'll be spent on debris removal and clean water restoration. Lee feels like those efforts fit the federal guidelines for health and wellness.
"These dollars are ours. They’re here. They’re available, and they’re specifically designed to be used for health and welfare," Lee told reporters.
Road restoration
Rebuilding Interstate 40 and other washed-out state and county roads will also require millions of dollars. Gov. Lee says TDOT will use the existing money that they already have to fund those projects.
"We’ve picked the projects that are most important to get finished earliest, and those are the ones we’re working on," said Lee.
"Does that mean some projects, already in the pipeline that may have gotten prior approval, may be set back now for East Tennessee?" I asked the Governor.
"Actually, what happens for most of these projects is, there will be reimbursement dollars available from the federal government to pay for these projects. That’s what disaster declarations do for you," Lee replied.
While that is true, that the feds will reimburse them for road projects too, it also likely means existing projects elsewhere in the state will be at least initially delayed.
It's important to note that Tennessee has unspent money in the budget from Gov. Lee's failed bid to add universal school vouchers this legislative session.
The state also has a record $2 billion in the Rainy Day Fund. Lee said they have no plans to use either pot of money.
"We have dollars available to do these projects. We have to prioritize those dollars and those projects, but we have the money available to do them," said Lee.
Lee also announced that Interstate 40 in Tennessee will reopen two lanes, one in each direction by next week. The timeline for when I-40 in North Carolina can re-open is still unclear.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@newschannel5.com.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
