The city of Bowling Green is providing some financial relief to small business owners affected by the December tornado and seeks to offer help beyond federal disaster assistance.
The small business tornado relief program will give companies a five-year property tax rebate. To qualify, businesses must have been directly affected by the tornado and have fewer than 50 employees.
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott said many businesses have received little assistance from FEMA other than some opportunities for loans. He says this local effort will provide more direct relief.
“We want our businesses to know that we’re advocating for them,” Alcott said.
“We want them to stand back up and we want them to know their city is the one government that is there for them.”
Applications for the program will be on the city’s website by this summer.
Possible property tax relief
That same local relief program could also provide property tax reimbursements to Bowling Green businesses affected by the December tornado.
Mayor Alcott says businesses can start their tax rebate this year or wait until 2023.
“And they may want to start next year because some of the businesses were damaged and they have a lower tax assessable value that they may want to do later when they fix it up, because the tax value would go up.”
Many of the businesses affected by the tornado are located in the Kentucky Transpark, along the 31-W Bypass, and Russellville Road, although the city will use mapping to determine which businesses were directly impacted.
The rebate program won’t be open to eligible businesses until this summer when applications are posted on the city’s website.