City attorney briefs Hampton on two proposed state constitutional amendments affecting property taxes

City Attorney Ivory briefed council and members of the public on two proposed amendments to the state constitution that will appear on an upcoming ballot. The first would permit surviving spouses of veterans with 100% service-connected, permanent and total disability to move to a different primary residence and still retain the full property-tax exemption; under current language the exemption applies only to the residence in which the surviving spouse lives at the time of death.

The second proposed amendment would authorize localities to provide a partial property-tax exemption for primary residences subject to recurrent flooding if resiliency improvements have been made to the property. Ivory emphasized that these amendments would create optional authorities for localities and that the city cannot yet estimate the fiscal effect because it is unknown how many eligible taxpayers might move into the city or apply for the exemption.