Charity Hospital in New Orleans has been closed since Hurricane Katrina and the state has indicated it has no plans to ever open it as a hospital again.

Yet since the storm at the end of August 2005, the state has spent millions in tax dollars to keep the utilities running in the complex, day and night.

According to documents Eyewitness News acquired through a public records request, from October 2005 to last month, the state has spent a total of $4,449,000.25 to keep utilities on in big Charity's complex of buildings.

“We’ve had to keep air conditioning on, we’ve had to keep climate control in the building because of the way that we're working with FEMA very meticulously to go through the building and document flood damage,” said Dr. Fred Cerise, Vice President for Health Care & Medical Education of the LSU Hospital System.

Here's a breakdown of how your taxes are being spent to keep utilities running at Charity's complex of eight buildings, according to the utility bills:

- More than $1,372,579.74 for electricity

- More than $182,302.30 for water

- More than $2,894,119.21 for air conditioning and heating

That brings the total to $4,449,000.25.

“We are still using some of the building as warehouse space.  As we repair other assets, we've moved equipment in there and it's being stored in that building,” Cerise said.

LSU hospital officials place the value of those assets stored inside big Charity at $35,892,790.39.

But in an interview with Eyewitness News, Dr. Cerise repeatedly blamed FEMA rules for the need to spend so much to keep utilities running around the clock.

“The FEMA guidelines that we're following are that we've got to maintain the integrity of the facility and so that's why we’ve had to board the windows,” he said.  “That's why we’ve had to maintain the air in there. Because if we don't, mold will overgrow and water will leak in.”

“If we haven’t kept the climate adequately controlled, then we're putting at risk all of the claims we have – multiple millions of dollars for damages that are due to the state from the federal government,” he added.

FEMA paints a different picture, however.

“I don't believe we've required them to spend $4.5 million to keep the lights on,” says FEMA official Jim Stark.  “I'd have to look at that. We're talking about lights, air conditioning, heating and water?” Stark asked.

And when Eyewitness News asked whether Stark thought FEMA rules had required the state to spend that much money, he responded, “I have not heard that until today.”

More than two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the state and FEMA do agree about one thing – they still have a huge disagreement over the value of damage at Charity Hospital.

“At this point, FEMA's estimate of the storm related damages is $27 million,” Stark said.  But engineers for the state argue the claim is much higher.  They insist the damage is more than 50 percent.

“They estimated the number to be closer to $200 million in terms of damages to the facility,” Cerise said.

Cerise adds that the failure to resolve that disagreement forces the state to spend millions on utilities to prevent further damage to the Charity Hospital complex.

“Because even if it was damaged by the hurricane, if we haven't done our part in subsequently protecting it, then we're going to be suspect to argument that the damage was done subsequent, because the state didn't do its role in protecting it,” Cerise said.

“We have provided money for them to stabilize the building.  How they spend that money is up to the state,” countered FEMA’s Jim Stark.

Stark says FEMA provided the state $508,928 in funding specifically to patch roofs, board windows and protect the facility from further damage after the storm.  But he questions how well the state has protected Charity, saying the complex has “deteriorated" since the storm.

“There are broken windows,” he said.  “The elements are still getting in. So I'm not sure what the number will be once it's been all worked up by the engineers.  But if there are some damages that are not related to the storm, then we won’t pay for those.”

In fact, if you check the exterior of Charity Hospital, you do see some holes in the state's argument that it is protecting the asset.  You see unboarded broken windows through which the rain can enter and the air conditioning that your tax money is providing can escape.

When asked how he would respond to questions that this is a waste of taxpayer money, Cerise said he would agree that the state and FEMA should be through the negotiating process by now.

WWL’s news cameras have not been inside Charity Hopsital since January 2006, and Eyewitness News asked to go inside now to see the condition of the building, but the state flatly refused.

“There's been a lot that I think the public has seen in the building, and people from FEMA, independent architectural firms, independent assessors have gone through that building in great detail,” Cerise said.

FEMA and the state have settled claims for other public buildings, most notably the Louisiana Superdome.  The claim for the Superdome was settled within months, and the building reopened a year later.

“It's a priority that the state has set, in which ones they want to repair or replace quickly. And the Superdome was a priority,” Stark said.

He said FEMA provided its damage estimate within months after the storm.

“We're still waiting for the state to bring forth their numbers, their engineer assessments,” Stark said.

But Dr. Fred Cerise of LSU says the state is waiting on FEMA.

“We think it should be done by now, and we're working as hard as we can to do whatever we can to move it along, believe me,” said Cerise.  “But we are dependent upon FEMA to complete their assessment.”

So with the state spending an average of $153,000 a month in your taxes for utilities at Charity, when do state and federal officials expect to settle this claim?

“I don't know,” Cerise said.  “We're continuing, we are working very closely with FEMA, but it's two and a half years out now.”

FEMA has a slightly quicker timetable.

“I think we'll have it done by the end of the month,” Stark said, adding that that is only a target, not a deadline. And LSU says it's counting on roughly $200 million from Charity Hospital to help pay for the new teaching-hospital complex it plans for New Orleans.