N.C. Town Blocks Residents From Home Buyout Plan

Officials in this town made uninhabitable by flood waters are blocking residents from asking the government to buy their homes, which are on a flood plain.

Any North Carolina homeowner or business in an area prone to repeated flooding may be eligible for the buyouts, which are funded jointly by the federal and state governments. But the local government must first ask the state for the money.

Although some of Princeville’s 2,100 residents want to talk about buyouts, Mayor Delia Perkins said the Town Council had not discussed them and would not do so in the foreseeable future.

“We have had other major things to worry about, rather than having to worry about buyouts,” Perkins said.

All of Princeville sits in the flood plain. If many buyouts were approved, the town’s inventory of taxable property would be hit hard and town revenue would drop.