Soda Central, LLC$.$ is a manufacturer of diamond glasses used by celebrities to drink their soda from. The company has had some difficulty maintaining records in the past, and needs the information in order to begin the budgeting process for the next period. The company has determined that the total direct labor variance in the prior period was a favorable $$500$ and that direct laborers were paid $$1\mathrm{.}50$ less than anticipated. Management had budgeted for $6,500$ hours to be logged based on the current level of production, however, $500$ more hours were actually logged during production. What was the prior period's actual direct labor rate?

A$)$ $$20\mathrm{.}00$ per direct labor hour

B$)$ $$21\mathrm{.}50$ per direct labor hour

C$)$ $$22\mathrm{.}00$ per direct labor hour

D$)$ $$18\mathrm{.}50$ per direct labor hour

E$)$ None of the above are correct