Federal aid rules need to be changed

When the governor does the right thing and declares a county a disaster area, the assumption is that guarantees federal money to help governments cover the costs of dealing with what Mother Nature has wrought.

Unfortunately, as suburban officials in Fox Lake and Antioch know, that's not always the case. In fact, despite flooding from the Chain O' Lakes and the Fox River three times within a year, getting money from the federal government is far from reality.

"We'll apply for whatever grant they put in front of us," Fox Lake Mayor Cindy Irwin told Daily Herald staff writer Lee Filas. "But we won't get anything. We didn't get it the last two times, so why should we expect it this time?"

If indeed Irwin is right, then the rules governing federal aid need changing. Local officials say the mathematical formula used to help determine whether counties spent enough money to warrant aid is faulty.

To illustrate, Kent McKenzie, head of the Lake County Emergency Management Agency, said FEMA multiplies the total county population by about $3.05 and compares it to the amount of money local governments spent to fight each flood. Lake County, under that scenario, would need to spend more than $2 million to be reimbursed.

But that doesn't take into account what individual communities spend. And when towns like Fox Lake and Antioch are facing budget deficits, that's where the problem lies. We agree with McKenzie that FEMA needs to look at those scenarios as well.

"They should take that to a smaller level because a municipality or township could be devastated financially from a flood but in a large county like Lake County we will never be near the level of expense to warrant FEMA grants to reimburse expenses," he said.

FEMA says that it takes many factors into consideration -- and perhaps they do. But in the case of Antioch and Fox Lake, it still is unlikely they'll get help.

That hurts because Antioch, facing a budget deficit of $550,000 and looking at needing to lay off employees, spent $100,000 in the latest wave of flooding. That's after an August 2007 and April 2008 flood. The same is true in Fox Lake, which as spent about $300,000 in taxpayer money in the last year to battle flooding, including $150,000 for the latest flood.

These towns need help and we urge FEMA to take into account what's happened in recent months as they determine what communities get financial aid.

"We have put out 1,500 sandbags and the whole street department has been working overtime on flood issues," Fox Lake's Irwin said. "I would love Fox Lake to qualify for state or federal money because we can't afford to keep funding these natural disasters."