First Helene interest-free loans on the way to WNC local municipalities

North Carolina State Treasurer Brad Briner’s office is distributing more than $73 million in the first round of interest-free loans to local governments in western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene.

“We had a big goal on a short deadline, and we are excited to announce that help is on the way,” he said in a press release Monday. “Jeff Poley and his team worked relentlessly to create the program from the bottom up, recognizing, as we all did, that the residents of western North Carolina needed rapid resources to restore upended lives and rebuild neighborhoods.” 

Poley, the director of Disaster Services and Rural Economic Development for Briner’s office, said loans totaling $73,499,999.98 had been approved for 98 local governments as of Feb. 21, and some already had their allocations in hand.

The release states that a portion of the $100 million is being held because some local governments experienced hurricane loss and damage, making completing the necessary documentation difficult. Recent winter storm closures compounded the problem. Poley is working with the local governments to complete their applications by an extended deadline.  

The funding comes from the $100 million cashflow loan program under SB 382, Disaster Recovery Act of 2024, which became law in December. Its goal is to help local governments whose communities were devastated by Hurricane Helene while they wait for federal money to arrive. The administration of the program was assigned to the state treasurer’s office. 

At the Council of State meeting earlier this month, Briner stated that the new division has worked with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and the League of Municipalities to gather feedback from affected local governments. It has also communicated with legislators from western North Carolina, developed a lending agreement, created a fair allocation methodology, and established accountability measures to safeguard taxpayer dollars, as these funds are loans, not grants.

“When we hit this goal at the end of the month, we will have built this program faster than the legislation that created it was passed, and twice as fast as the last time North Carolina tried to do any kind of blending of this sort,” Briner said at the meeting. “The Department of State Treasurer obviously cannot appropriate taxpayer dollars nor execute the important work of physically rebuilding the western part of our state, but we can fulfill our statutory responsibilities well. We’ll make sure pension payments are paid, we’ll provide health insurance, and we will safeguard the funds of the state in so many ways.”

“More loans will be issued in coming weeks as we continue to work through the unavoidable challenges,” Poley said. He thanked the NC League of Municipalities, the NC Association of County Commissioners, and the NC Department of Emergency Management for partnering with DST to get the program up and running. 

One of the hardest hit communities is Mitchell County’s Spruce Pine. Mayor Philip Hise said in the release that he was grateful for the $2.8 million cashflow loan that the town is receiving. 

“Our town has accumulated several million (dollars) in debt to contractors and engineering debt for repairs made to our sewer and water system,” he said. “This money will be used to pay debts while waiting on the federal government for funds,”

Under the cashflow loan program, local governments must provide damage assessments to the NC Department of Emergency Management, as detailed in an earlier memo. Those assessments are used to calculate loan amounts. The governing boards of impacted local governments need to vote to approve acceptance of the interest-free loans. Requests for loans from school districts are channeled through their county governments. 

Here is a full list of local governments receiving loans in this first round of payouts.

The post First Helene interest-free loans on the way to WNC local municipalities first appeared on Carolina Journal.