Florida homeowners forced out of their homes for 60 days or more last year as a result of named tropical storms or hurricanes have begun to receive hurricane relief payments from the Department of Revenue.
Checks averaging $500 each are now in the mail to more than 19,000 Floridians whose homes were uninhabitable and who ended up paying state property taxes even though they were unable to live in the properties.
“I hope these payments help defray some of the costs incurred by Floridians during their recovery from the historic 2004 hurricane season,” Gov. Jeb Bush said.
To be eligible for the relief, Floridians must have had a homestead exemption in effect on their home in 2004 and to have applied to their county property appraiser for relief on or before March 1.
Payments began going out May 16 in batches of about 3,000 to 4,000 checks per day until May 20. By the end of the week, the state said it will have mailed all relief payments so they arrive in recipients’ mailboxes three to four days after mailing.
May 1 was the deadline for applications for mobile homeowners relief, repaying them for sales tax paid on mobile homes bought to replace mobile homes damaged or destroyed in a named storm in 2004. The state expects to be able to make similar payments to them later this summer.
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Hurricane Property Homeowners
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