THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 30, 1995 TAG: 9501300047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Longtime Ocracoke Island residents faced with losing their homes to rising property taxes are among taxpayers who would be helped by two Senate bills that seek to change the state's homestead exemption.
One bill would increase the value of residential property that could be excluded from taxation. Another would give county governments more flexibility in granting homestead exemptions to its residents.
The bills were among more than 140 filed last week by state lawmakers in the opening days of the General Assembly session.
Bills filed by Republicans in the House and Senate during the first week cover nearly all elements of their pre-election contract with the state's voters - bills increasing income tax deductions, reforming the state's welfare system, giving voters access to ballot initiatives, giving the governor veto power and the like.
Most bills filed by Democrats in both chambers focus on reducing crime and getting tougher on criminals, reducing taxes and revamping the state's education system - all items touted by Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. and other Democrats during the opening days of the session.
House Republicans introduced a bill to deny welfare payments or food stamps to the parent of a child born out of wedlock. Democrats introduced a milder welfare reform bill. It would require each family receiving assistance to make an agreement with social workers specifying how they will get off welfare.
On Friday, House and Senate Democrats introduced a bill requiring that a warning sign be posted on homes of convicted sex offenders after they are released from prison.
Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Raleigh today and begin tackling some of these bills in committees later this week.
One of the homestead exemption bills, sponsored by Sen. C.R. Edwards, a Cumberland County Democrat, would increase from $15,000 to $20,000 the value of property that low-income elderly or disabled people could have exempted from their tax bills. The measure also increases from $11,000 to $15,000 the income threshold that determines eligibility for the exemption.
The measure was referred to the Senate Finance Committee and, if approved, would be effective for the January 1996 listing period for 1996 taxes.
Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Roy A. Cooper III, a Rocky Mount Democrat, would give counties the authority to enact local homestead exemptions in addition to the statewide exemption and to raise the definition of low income so that more local residents can qualify.
The legislation amends the state Constitution to give counties the needed flexibility and requires a voter referendum to be held during the November 1996 general election.
The measure was referred to a Senate judiciary committee and, if approved, would be effective for the January 1997 listing period for 1997 taxes.
Bret Kinsella, spokesman for Senate leader Marc Basnight, said Friday that the statutory change, if enacted, would give low-income, elderly property owners more immediate relief from rising property taxes and the constitutional change would help local governments like Hyde County, with unique situations, deal with rising property taxes in the long term.
The statutory change ``tries to set some base level of relief, while the constitutional amendment gives local governments an opportunity to go one step further to address special circumstances,'' he said.
One of the areas where residents are seeking legislative help is Ocracoke Island. Year-round residents' property values have soared as much as 300 percent in the last few years because of developments on the island, and many residents contend the increase in taxes may force them to give up their homes.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB