Sen. Rusty Crowe, a Johnson City Republican, wants to tap Tennnessee’s rainy day fund to aid East Tennessee’s flood-ravaged counties. (Photo: John Partipilo)
An East Tennessee lawmaker wants to tap the state’s rainy day fund to bolster flood-ravaged counties, despite hesitation by the governor to use anything other than a TennCare loan program to jump-start the region’s recovery.
Republican Sen. Rusty Crowe of Johnson City favors grants from the state’s $2.15 billion rainy day fund – not loans – to provide a long-term boost for 13 mountainous counties rebounding from cataclysmic flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
The $100 million the governor’s cabinet is taking from TennCare to provide loans to help affected counties remove rubble and repair water and sewer systems is only the “tip of the iceberg,” Crowe told the Tennessee Lookout.
Carter County, for instance, needs up to $9 million of the loan fund to deal with debris cleanup. Yet the county faces another $180 million in damage costs and has a rainy day fund of only $20 million, Crowe said.