Southeast Missouri property owners wait for word on buyouts after March, April floods

More than 120 property owners in Wayne, Ripley and Reynolds counties in Missouri are in limbo as they wait to find out if their flood-damaged homes will be purchased through a federal buyout program at a combined cost of nearly $5 million.

Applications for the program were submitted by the cities of Piedmont, Doniphan and Ellington and by Wayne County following March and April high waters.

Property owners are unlikely to see any money from the voluntary buyouts before October, according to officials. Until then, some have made their homes as livable as possible, moved in with relatives, to new homes or on to new cities and states.

Communities seek a total of almost $3.4 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund these buyouts, according to preliminary project costs provided by the Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission (OFRPC). This amounts to 75 percent of the total project costs.

The public entities, in this case the city or county, purchasing these properties are responsible for the remaining 25 percent.

All four applicants seek Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from the state of Missouri to cover the additional approximately $1,228,000. The City of Doniphan will contribute $10,000 of in-kind work to its 25 percent matching funds.

"We want to stress to (Wayne County) people, the only way the county can be a part of this is to receive the 25 percent match, because the county doesn't have the money to pay any part of it," said Wayne County Presiding Commissioner Brian Polk.

Already, five other Missouri communities have also applied for the limited CDBG funds set aside to cover buyouts following March and April flooding.

It is too preliminary to say how much money the CDBG program will be able to contribute to these buyouts, said Keener Tippin, with the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

It will likely be the end of September before both FEMA and the state make a decision on the applications, said OFRPC Associate Director Felicity Brady. Each agency has different qualifications eligible buyout properties must meet. Properties that fail to meet those qualifications could be removed from the buyout lists, Brady said.

After each property is approved, transactions then proceed like a normal real estate transactions, with appraisal and title work done and offers made by the purchaser.

The town of Ellington has the most homes, 42, up for the buyout. The City of Piedmont seeks to buy 33 properties, the City of Doniphan 29 properties and Wayne County 23 properties.

The City of Piedmont initially included additional homes in the buyout, but the list was cut back after officials learned how much the purchases would cost, according to City Clerk Tammy Thurman.

"The whole project came to $4 million and the CDBG funds were limited," she explained.

All of the homes included in the current buyout have more than 50 percent substantial damage and were considered to be the most affected by flooding, Thurman said. The city may try to complete a second buyout at a later date with additional homes, many of which also have more than 50 percent substantial damage.

Piedmont city officials have also contacted the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) about funding a buyout involving five businesses and one church that were flooded.

The state's CDBG funds can only be used to purchase homes and vacant lots. These buyouts also do not include second or weekend homes.

"The (city) received a reply that NRCS doesn't have any funds at this time," Thurman said.

NRCS funds are appropriated by Congress. The city may reapply in the next funding period, according to Thurman. The city used NRCS funds for a previous buyout, but it took about four years for that project to be completed, she said. The City of Piedmont has already purchased more than 100 properties from severe flooding in 1982, 1983, 1993 and 1995.

Each home is appraised at the value of the property prior to the flood, Brady said. If home owners have already received funds from FEMA for repairs, they must prove those repairs were completed or that money will be deducted from the purchase price of their home.

"After the buyout, the properties will be owned by the city or county and has to remain in public ownership in perpetuity," Brady said.

In Wayne County, the purchased property will not become green ways maintained by the county, said Polk, they will become natural areas.