State of Illinois
Introduced , by Rep. David A. Welter
SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
Appropriates $2,600,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Village of Coal City for the debt incurred by the municipality for its cleanup and recovery efforts following the destruction from the EF-3 tornado on June 22, 2015. Includes a preamble concerning the costs relating to the EF-3 tornado. Effective July 1, 2019.
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AN ACT concerning appropriations.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:
WHEREAS, The Village of Coal City experienced an EF-3 tornado on June 22, 2015 resulting in damage to nearly one-third of its total housing stock and requiring the complete reconstruction of 160 residential structures; and
WHEREAS, The Village experienced significant blight conditions and cleared its streets in an urgent manner to restore the character of the community and aid in the reconstruction of what had been lost; and
WHEREAS, The Village called upon multiple mutual aid response networks, including, but not limited to, the Illinois Public Works Mutual Aid Network, the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System, and the South Suburban Building Officials Association, and received different types of support from the non-profit community through the assistance of the Village’s local ecumenical community and relief agencies, such as the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Team Rubicon, and the American Red Cross, limiting the overall recovery expenditures in order to restore the community from the chaos that came with the weather on June 22, 2015; and
WHEREAS, The multiple events connected with the multiple funnel clouds that wreaked havoc throughout the Village resulted in emergency response expenditures totaling approximately $15,100,000 across the State of Illinois, which was 84% of the federal funding formula threshold required to receive federal aid for costs related to the June 22, 2015 tornado; and
WHEREAS, Although the total aggregate emergency response expenditures exceeded the minimum Federal Emergency Management Agency federal funding threshold for a majority of states within the United States, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency did not recommend that the Governor pursue federal participation in the relief for qualified emergency expenditures; and
WHEREAS, Because of this failure to act, the Village was forced to sell alternate revenue bonds in 2015 in order to raise the funds necessary to provide the public works necessary to reestablish impaired infrastructure, maintain security throughout the response, and renovate impacted neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, The State of Illinois offered any assistance possible and necessary to assist with the cleanup from the June 22, 2015 tornado but has been unable to provide any funding for the alternate revenue bonds of 2015; and
WHEREAS, Besides working closely with the State of Illinois, the Village diligently worked on alternative solutions for identifying additional revenues, including hiring additional staff and consulting services to identify qualified State programming, continuously responding to requests by the State of Illinois for information to attempt in qualifying past expenses for existing state programs, and attempting to receive permission from the residents of the Village to receive home rule authority to generate additional revenue to assist with the upcoming debt payments; therefore
Section 5. The sum of $2,600,000, or so much of that sum as may be necessary, is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Village of Coal City for the debt incurred by the municipality for its cleanup and recovery efforts following the destruction from the EF-3 tornado on June 22, 2015.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2019.