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 "A lot of the debris is behind the homes," Washington Mayor Gary
Manier told Illinois Watchdog. "We really gotta get that out of
there before we start seeing the spring rains, or we're just going
to complicate the problem and have flooding."
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DAY ONE: Manier answered questions about the cleanup after the
storms. |
Manier has tried to get federal help for his town, but has so far
been rebuffed.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has turned down Illinois'
request for $5.1 million to help Washington and cities in nine
counties, pay to fix what the November tornadoes destroyed.
The denial is the fifth time since 2009 that FEMA has said "no" to
Illinois when the state has come looking for federal money.
Patti Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management
Agency, said in three cases FEMA denied help for individual
taxpayers; twice the feds told local governments they would not be
reimbursed.
 If FEMA doesn't change its mind about the November tornado cleanup, Manier said he doesn't know how his city will get back on its feet.
"Our annual budget is $18.7 million, and right now we're a little
over $6 million in debris removal (alone)," Manier said.
The mayor, and Gov. Pat Quinn's office, blames FEMA's formula for
calculating the cost of storm damage.
The federal calculations balance the cost of the cleanup against
the number of people impacted. Manier said small towns like his are
hurt because the damage total is not as high as it would be if a
storm hit Chicago.
But Illinois has a well-established spend-first approach when it
comes to storm response.
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GET 'EM CLEAR: Quinn threw every asset at the January snow, but plows
didn't always get the job done. |
[to top of second column] |
Quinn told reporters during January's snowstorms and arctic blast
that he wasn't worrying about dollars as he sent snowplows out the
door.
"You don't scrimp when it comes to public safety. We have to deploy
every asset we have." Quinn said. "At the end, we'll calculate it."
Manier said in the days after the tornadoes leveled his town, he
wasn't thinking about who would pay the bills when they came due
either.
"We really didn't listen to ‘What if? Is this going to be covered,
is that going to be covered?'" Manier said. "We just went full speed
ahead."
The cost of the storm doesn't end with the cost to clean up
Washington.
Manier said local taxpayers will pay for the storm for a long time.
"If you look at 1,100 homes in a community of 15,134 people, that's
significant for us. We're talking about property tax. We're talking
about sales tax," Manier said. "Our community is going to be on its knees."
Quinn's office is promising to appeal FEMA's denial to try and get
some federal money for Washington.
If that doesn't work, Manier said he'll head down to the state
Capitol and try and get some state money for his town.
___
Contact Benjamin Yount at
Ben@IllinoisWatchdog.org and find
him on Twitter:
@BenYount.
[This
article courtesy of
Illinois Watchdog.]
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