Tilley: On Flooding and Budgets

Southeast Missouri Flooding

Nationwide, dramatic rainfalls have gorged the Missouri-Mississippi-Ohio River system with historic levels of water. In Cairo Illinois, where the Ohio River meets the Mississippi, local authorities are recording the highest river levels they’ve ever observed, cresting at over 60 feet.

As a result, the Army Corps of Engineers, based out of Memphis, TN, has decided to implement a “floodway plan” that has not been used since 1937 – the last time the river reached almost 60 feet in Cairo.

This plan involved blowing up the Bird’s Point Levee in Southeast Missouri – unleashing the full power of the Mississippi River on some of our state’s most fertile farm land. The explosions to blow the levee were massive and rattled the windows for miles.

Mother Nature unleashed from her man-made restraints is an awesome force. Homes are underwater, fields are washed out, tractors are destroyed, grain is rotting in ruined silos, and individuals who failed to evacuate are being located by the brave men and women of the Missouri National Guard.

The decision to flood approximately 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland was made by the Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to save the town of Cairo, Illinois because it was believed saving the town instead of the farmland would result in less collateral damage. For some perspective on where Cairo is located, you can click here.

I know many of you remember the terrible flooding of 1993. When Missourians endured this tragedy, many of our historic river towns were lost forever. The people who lived there were forced to move, leaving behind rich family traditions and their river lifestyles.

The area in Missouri that was flooded is roughly half the geographic size of Mississippi County – there was hundreds of farmers living in the “floodway” and their homes and way of life have been lost for an as yet undetermined period of time. When the damage toll comes in it may be in billions of dollars.

In this time of need, I hope that we will all keep those who are suffering, both in Cairo and in Missouri, in our thoughts and prayers. Temporary shelters have been set up for the affected areas, and I’m sure they are accepting volunteer help and donations, should you be so inclined.

Natural disasters are horrible events. Coupled with the tornadoes of late, this flood comes at an awkward time – but I know we are all strong enough to endure.

State Budget

While Washington D.C. continues to with our national financial dilemma, the Missouri House this year was able to take a common-sense, family style approach to budgeting – only spending the money that we actually have.

It’s irresponsible to budget on the backs of our children, and we would never allow that to happen in our State. Thus, we did everything we could to fund the vital needs of our state without raising taxes.

This session has been unique – with our current economic climate, it was challenging to craft a budget that would meet the state’s needs. Not only were we able to pass a budget without new job-killing taxes, but we were able to craft a plan in line with our session-long goal of creating new jobs for Missourians.

I am proud to announce that even though our State’s revenue picture continues to be grim, we were able to hold the line on our foundation formula education funding. Our local school districts will continue to be funded according to the formula.

Last year we were forced to make some cuts to school bus transportation funds. This year, we were able to put some of that money back in the budget, helping our schools deal with the rising price of gasoline.

Higher Education is a different story, though the original budget recommended a 7% overall cut to funding, in our latest budget we were able to increase our original amount by $13,000,000. This increase from our original number for the year should help our universities continue to operate at a high level despite the poor economic conditions in our state.

Our budget also contains incentives to help small-businesses develop, grow, and hopefully hire new workers in our state. This session we have tried to do everything in our power to help turn around this economy, and this approach is also reflected in the budget that we passed.

Additionally, we were able to preserve Missouri Rx. This is a program that helps thousands of Missouri seniors with their prescription medications. It was tough, we had to find money that was previously used in other parts of the budget, but with a little creativity and ingenuity, we were able to cobble together funds from different areas to ensure that our prescription drug benefits would remain.

The state budget is roughly $23 billion and there are many other programs that lost or gained funding, the above are just some of the highlights.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve here in the House of Representatives. As always, I welcome your comments. You may reach me at 573-751-1488, send your e-mails to steven{dot}tilley{at}house{dot}mo{dot}gov or write to me at the Missouri House of Representatives, State Capitol, Room 308, Jefferson City, MO 65101.

If you know of anyone who would like to receive my Capitol Reports electronically, please contact me with their e-mail address.