By Dave Montgomery

A delegation of metro-east officials began making the rounds in Washington on Tuesday in an attempt to buy more time to repair Mississippi River levees in five districts before the federal government declares the area a flood-hazard zone.

Six Madison County officials huddled with home state Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., to begin a two-day series of meetings to address what they described as the region's most important issue.

As many as 150,000 Illinois residents are facing mandatory flood insurance as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) moves toward declaring the region a flood hazard zone until the levees are repaired.

The flood-plain remapping has angered political leaders and businesses throughout the metro-east because Missouri, which is part of the same watershed, won't be subject to remapping for one or two more years.

Illinois residents fear the mandated flood insurance will undercut property values and send future development across the river.

The metro-east originally planned to field a three-county delegation to Washington but the region's severe snow storm forced officials from St. Clair and Monroe counties to stay behind. The Madison County delegation was already in Washington for a meeting of the National Association of Counties.

Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan said the scaled-down delegation would nevertheless present a unified front for all three counties. The message, he said, is this: The metro-east will cooperate with the federal government to carry out the needed repairs on the levees but needs time to perform the work and wants a "level playing field" with Missouri.

"We want to be treated like our cousins in Missouri," he said. "We don't want to be treated any better, and we don't want to be treated any worse."

The House last year passed an amendment by Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, that would delay the requirement to purchase flood insurance until remapping has been completed for the entire watershed.

Durbin is sponsoring an identical amendment in the Senate.

Durbin invited Dodd into the briefing because the Connecticut Democrat serves as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and oversees the National Flood Insurance Reauthorization bill that would include the Durbin amendment. Durbin said he wanted Dodd to "hear first-hand the urgency of the issue."

FEMA is expected to release preliminary maps for Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties in June. Dunstan said the two senators promised to "do everything they could" to get Durbin's amendment passed, although the Senate's timetable for acting on the bill has not been determined.

Metro-east officials were scheduled to meet today with Costello and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville. They also planned a Pentagon meeting with Assistant Army Secretary John Woodley, who oversees the service's civil works program.

Dunstan said that metro-east officials have been working with the Army Corps of Engineers and have stressed their commitment to getting the levees repaired within four or five years.

The repairs could cost up to $180 million, and local officials have been studying ways to finance the project. State Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, has submitted state legislation for a temporary quarter-cent sales tax to fund the repairs.

Dunstan said metro-east officials are presenting a message of cooperation to federal officials and hope the region will emerge as a positive example as FEMA remaps flood plains across the country. "We know we have a problem," he said. "Work with us to fix us the problem."

In another development, Haine, said Tuesday he is revising his quarter-cent sales tax proposal to remove a provision allowing the revenue to also be used toward stormwater drainage improvements. Critics have argued it would lead to uncertainty on when the tax would end.

The sales tax would end after bonds issued for the work are paid off, or after 25 years, whichever comes first.

Haine said he plans to file the amended bill today.

"It became a source of consternation among some who felt that it would extend the life of the tax," Haine said. "Rather than dealing with that, it's better to keep the focus on the original intent of the bill, which is to repair the levees to a 500-year flood level."