"Fellowship of Ministers" Still Owes Thousands to City of Shreveport

For nearly six months, a group of local ministers provided shelter for hurricane victims. Now those same ministers are under fire, accused of owing tens of thousands of dollars to local utility companies. Money they say they just can`t afford to pay. "They do owe a large sum of money to the city for their water bills, " said Mike Strong, director of the Department of Operational Services for the City of Shreveport. The Fellowship of Ministers owes the City of Shreveport more than 14,000 dollars. "They did an initial payment that they received money from FEMA. But this bill is now over 90 days," said Strong. And the City of Shreveport isnt` the only creditor still waiting to get paid. "There`s a lot of debt still out there," said former shelter manager Rev. Patrick Sanders. "Swepco is I think is anywhere between 35 and $45,000." Sanders says the ministers would love to pay the reminder of their debts, but it`s not that simple. "The state funded us for a couple of months. Come to find out that was actually FEMA money. So now we`re having a massive audit, the state persons want to do which is going to prolong the reimbursement process." Sanders says he and the other ministers never realized the how much of an under taking the whole process would become. "The Pelican was a unique situation. It had never been done before.Hopefully we don`t have to ever do this again... We did good. And no one can pour water on that." But it`s been more than four months since the residents moved out. Now creditors like the City of Shreveport are wondering when if or they will ever get paid. "If they need us to work out some kind of plan then we`ll work with them. But the City of Shreveport still needs their money," said Strong.