Topeka ? Lawmakers need to help pay for replacement housing and assist businesses that want to locate in areas devastated by tornado and flood damage, two legislative leaders told a legislative committee Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt and House Majority Leader Dennis McKinney told the Special Committee on Assessment and Taxation that survival of the towns in disaster areas depends on rebuilding their local economies – which means people have to live there.

“It will cost a little bit now to get these communities on their feet or a lot in the coming decade to pay for the economic decline,” said Schmidt, an Independence Republican whose hometown and much of his southeast Kansas district suffered massive flooding this summer.

“From a state standpoint, there needs to be a discussion about the long-term health of regional communities,” he said.

McKinney, a Democrat whose hometown of Greensburg was all but wiped away by a May 4 tornado, said many people can’t afford to replace their homes.

He said many homes purchased years ago for between $20,000 to $40,000 now would cost $100,000 or more to rebuild.

“Without adequate housing we will lose many of our citizens, our work force to neighboring communities or in the case of southeast Kansas to neighboring states,” McKinney said, adding that Greensburg lost up to 95 percent of its tax base because of the tornado.

McKinney and Schmidt said the Special Committee on Disaster Relief, on which they serve, will have proposals next month. Any recommendations from either it or the tax committee are likely to be considered when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Schmidt said one unanswered question is how much the relief will cost.