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Amendment to create tax-relief grants for Helene victims, clarify local resource-sharing rolls to Hill
Summary
An amendment to House Bill 6007 would create a one-time grant to cover taxpayers' 2024 property tax bills for parcels damaged by Hurricane Helene (matching tax amount plus 30%) and clarify that local authorities may share resources during emergencies; the bill was rolled to the Hill for further consideration.
Chairman Faison presented an amendment to House Bill 6007 that would create a grant program to reimburse property owners whose parcels were damaged or destroyed in Hurricane Helene for their 2024 property tax bills, plus an additional 30 percent to help with other costs.
Faison told the committee that the comptroller and the attorney general had identified a constitutional mechanism to make the grants administrable through the comptroller's office. He said the program is designed for property that was “hurt, damaged, destroyed in hurricane Helene” and that applications would be processed by the comptroller. The sponsor emphasized the grant is intended to help people whose homes or other property are gone or unsalvageable for the Feb. 28, 2025 property-tax deadline.
The amendment also clarifies that during declared emergencies local governments may share local resources with neighboring jurisdictions without worrying that those shared resources will create procurement or accounting problems. Faison described examples from the immediate recovery, including damaged trash trucks and the need to coordinate salvage and cleanup.
Representative Gantt asked how the program would prevent fraud and whether grant recipients who already had insurance could claim the grant; Faison said the comptroller and county assessors had already identified damaged parcels and the grant is calculated from the 2024 tax obligation. Faison said the grant “matches that plus 30%” and that the program is limited to tax relief; it does not replace or duplicate homeowner-insurance payments.
Committee action: Without objection, the committee rolled House Bill 6007 to the Hill for further consideration rather than voting on final passage.
What this means: If the bill proceeds, homeowners and property owners in affected counties would apply to the comptroller for a grant equal to their 2024 property tax bill on damaged property plus 30 percent; the program would be limited to the 2024 tax year as described in committee testimony and would not itself extend or alter homeowner insurance contracts.
