E. Dundee comes through with helping hand

The helping hand the East Dundee village board and staff offered to the dozens of residents affected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's reconfigured flood maps was a commendable gesture.

Residents were looking for help and the village offered assistance where most people now need it most: in the back pocket.

But I also understand Trustee Jeff Lynam's stance against the program. Where does the village draw the line when it comes to people asking the village to help fight their battles? Can a homeowner facing foreclosure ask the village board for help in paying their mortgage, arguing that high numbers of foreclosures are a detriment to the rest of the village? Could a resident ask the board to pay part of the costs for fighting an assessment? What about those residents who found themselves in the flood-prone area after the county redid flood maps back in 2002. Did the village help those residents prove they should not be in the flood plain area?

The flood maps are part of a federal agency's modernization program to digitize maps across the nation. The village has nothing to do with the redrawn boundaries.Still, the village board will reimburse homeowners $100 toward the cost of obtaining surveys and certificates to repeal the flood zone designation.

Residents received far more aid than they were looking for. For the most part, residents were looking for the village to help with the logistics of finding a survey company that offers a discount rate for groups, or for the village to help disperse information to their neighbors.

To imply that the residents were looking for a handout is false. Sure, a resident mentioned some kind of financial assistance, but residents did not demand it.

Perhaps the village should have played the reimbursement program as its last resort, offering other alternatives before revealing their hand. While the rebate is helpful to the homeowners in the Flats area, it does not benefit the rest of the village.