MEETING SET TODAY IN JEFFERSON CITY TO ASSESS FLOOD COSTS OF STATE

State Rep. Mary Kasten and Sen. Jerry Howard will be among state legislators and other state officials gathering at the Missouri Capitol today to begin assessing the impact of flooding on the state's budget.

Kasten, a Cape Girardeau Republican, serves on the budget committee of the Missouri House, and Howard, a Dexter Democrat, serves on the appropriations committee of the Senate.

Today's 1:30-p.m. joint meeting was called by the chairmen of the committees to begin sharing information with members and start formulating a plan to pay the rising costs due to the flooding.

Both Kasten and Howard said that the state's budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 is tight and there is not much money available to allocate for flood recovery efforts without cutting somewhere else in the state budget.

Kasten said: "We have been trying to have emergency funds set aside, but nothing like this. This will be an enormous amount. We would have to take it from somewhere. I'm just really afraid it is going to be more than we realize."

Gov. Mel Carnahan has said he might call a special session of the General Assembly to deal with appropriations for flood relief; however, it will be weeks before a final assessment of damages is available.

Some federal relief funds will be available, but at this point no one is sure what that amount will be. Most federal funds will require some match from the state.

Not only do state officials have to be concerned about losses incurred by the private sector, but there has also been considerable damage to state facilities and property, roads and bridges. Also, additional costs for personnel are being incurred to keep up with the flooding situation.

Kasten said that the cost of having the National Guard on duty around the state is about $2.1 million so far, and that amount is likely to increase substantially.

"This meeting will really be just the beginning of trying to anticipate some of the costs we will have at the state level," said Kasten. "Different agencies will be represented to tell us what costs we have incurred so far from damages, equipment and supplies, and manpower. I'm afraid the total cost is going to be much more than we realize."

Before leaving for Jefferson City Wednesday afternoon, Kasten attended the daily meeting of city officials in Cape Girardeau to monitor the flood situation and to gather some understanding of what costs had been to the city so far.

Howard, whose Bootheel district is suffering more from a lack of water on its crops than too much water, said he had not talked with anyone about the meeting since he was notified of it Tuesday afternoon.

But Howard said he was anxious to work with his colleagues and other state officials to address the crisis. He stressed the importance of state officials having a good understanding of the extent of the problem and what it will take to deal with the damage done to both private and public property.

"I think at this meeting we'll begin to start looking at some numbers and trying to plug that into our House and Senate research staffs to determine what our emergency appropriations bills will need to be," said Howard.

"I'm not real sure where the money will come from. We already have a tight budget and we have not seen that much revenue growth in the state. It will be a difficult situation for us to deal with."