Helene relief: Stein requests $1.07 billion to rebuild western NC

We all know that the people of Western North Carolina

suffered tremendously since Helene swept through lives lost homes damaged

businesses struggling infrastructure destroyed

The folks out here have rallied to help each other

neighbor helping neighbor and it has been truly inspiring for

all of us to watch

But the extent of the damage nearly 6

$60 billion is much more than the people of Western

North Carolina can bear

FEMA and the federal government will reimburse us for some

of the recovery work but there are some things that

the federal government won't pay for and that the people

of Western North Carolina need now

That's why I'm asking the General Assembly for just over

a billion dollars $170,000 to support

The immediate rebuilding needs here in Western North Carolina these

funds are urgently needed

There will be an additional appropriation request later in the

year for the traditional biennial budget that happens in July

but these are high priority funds needed in the 1st

and 2nd quarter of this year so that people can

get their lives back together

If we do not act

Some businesses will not be here in the summer and

we will miss an entire building season before the winter

weather comes again in 2025

We cannot miss an entire year of construction

The funds will go to several immediate priorities

First ensuring that our economy is ready to bounce back

for the summer time particularly when the tourists come back

to the region

Two of the most

Important revenue months of the year for Western North Carolina

businesses especially in tourism are October and December

October was a near total loss in December generated just

a fraction of the revenue it generally does

It's too early to understand the full economic impact of

Hurricane Helene

Hotels though can give us an indication

Buncombe County hotel sales were down 74% in October

And 57% in November compared to the year before

What we know is that after a major disaster 43%

of small businesses never reopen

We do not want that to happen here in western

North Carolina and we can take action to prevent that

We cannot let this be our story

Our ambition is to help businesses survive the first two

quarters of this year

So they can open their doors to customers come the

summer

If we fail to act many businesses will not survive

these slow cold months and what these entrepreneurs have built

will be lost and the employees will be out of

a job

Taking on additional business debt is simply not the answer

for small businesses that are already struggling so I'm proposing

grants for businesses that suffered physical

Or significant economic loss as a result of Helene as

well as grants to small towns and counties so that

they can rebuild their downtowns and make critical economic development

investments

This past Friday I was up in Boone joined with

Dogwood Health Trust to stand up a small business grant

program for those that were affected

Small businesses can grant seek grants up to 5000

to help them survive until the summer but we're anticipating

applications far in excess of the $30 million that dogwood

and the state have put up

We must invest in the small businesses of Western North

Carolina to make sure that the economy comes back stronger

than ever before

Supporting the economy obviously includes supporting our farmers

They need help restoring their land

Recovering from verified uninsured losses to crops and clearing debris

to prevent future wildfires like the wildfire that hit McDowell

County last week

I'm proposing that the state step up to fund these

efforts because the success of our farmers is critical to

our overall economic success

We cannot allow the disaster of the hurricane to be

compounded by the disaster of wildfires