Hurricane Katrina's Aftermath

This story just gets my goat:

The owner of RNR Enterprises of Boise, Idaho, Navert signed on in the chaotic weeks after Hurricane Katrina as a third-tier vendor on a City Hall contract to clear hundreds of miles of debris-clogged storm drains in New Orleans.

Motivated in part by a desire to help the ravaged city, Navert said he dispatched two vacuum trucks -- half his fleet -- and ultimately billed $189,000 for the work.

But 28 months after Navert and more than 30 other private contractors finished the job, many are only now on the verge of getting paid in full. This week, city officials secured from the Federal Emergency Management Agency the final installment of $10.3 million for the cost of cleaning the storm drains.

Was this just red tape or pure incompetence?