Editorial: State flood buyout money should be released

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said this week that he wants to sit down and talk budget issues one-on-one with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

"I'm hoping that the speaker and I can meet in private soon," Rauner said, as reported by WBBM-AM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.

It can't be soon enough for Des Plaines resident Jim Bataille, just one of many Illinoisans negatively affected by the budget stalemate.

And while there is plenty of blame to go around in this test of wills, only when both sides are ready to compromise will there be movement.

For Bataille, he had no intention of getting caught up in a political stalemate in Springfield. He was too busy dealing with the fallout of four major floods over the past three decades in his Des Plaines home. Finally, there was a light at the end of the tunnel - a voluntary federal government buyout of his property on Big Bend Drive along the Des Plaines River. For the 78-year-old and his wife, it would allow him to move to a new home free of the flooding and the expensive cleanups he's had to endure.

"This seemed to be the answer to all my problems," Bataille said of the $350,000 buyout offer. "It was a good amount and I was glad to accept it - I thought."

But Bataille and six other families weren't able to close in time before the state started its new fiscal year last July. Without a budget, the matching state money that was required by the federal government wasn't available and the buyout has been in limbo ever since.

Meanwhile, Bataille and his wife, Judith, closed on a townhouse at the same time they were expecting to close on the Big Bend Drive property so they've been paying for both properties for the last eight months.

"I got caught in the middle of a (political) struggle. The clock is ticking for me," he told Daily Herald staff writer Christopher Placek.

It's a terrible situation for Bataille and the others. More than $11 million was committed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to buy flood-prone properties in several areas in the state, including Des Plaines, Warrenville, South Elgin and Spring Grove. Democratic state Rep. Marty Moylan of Des Plaines is preparing a bill to have that money released, budget stalemate or not.

We urge the governor, the speaker, and other suburban legislators of both parties to support Moylan and help out the Batailles and others who need to get their lives back in order - before the next round of flooding comes around.