WACO, Texas (KXXV) — A proposition, which is on the November ballot, would cut your wallet some slack if your home catches fire and becomes unlivable.
Proposition 10 is a constitutional amendment, and if passed, it would create a process to temporarily lower your tax bill following your home catching fire.
Now, to qualify, your home has to be uninhabitable for at least 30 days, and you'd have to apply to have your tax bill adjusted on the home that's been restored for the year the fire took place, according to legislation and a report by the Texas Tribune.
The ballot language reads as follows: "The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to provide for a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation of the appraised value of an improvement to a residence homestead that is completely destroyed by a fire."
State Representative Pat Curry said this amendment was birthed from what we saw in the Texas panhandle last year when fires broke out, destroying hundreds of homes.
“If you’re home is destroyed in a fire, you'll get a temporary exemption from the value of that home until it’s rebuilt, makes sense right? It also makes sense because right now if you go bulldoze a home on the site the value of that home goes to zero but you have to go convince the taxing authority that that’s the case and they don’t have to do it. They don’t have to take the value of that home off there. In this case, they will.” State Representative Pat Curry said.
