ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved a bill to provide tornado victims with a property tax rebate. 

Friday morning, the board passed board bill 24 to help ensure that homeowners who lost their home in this month’s tornado will get some property tax relief. 

Their taxes will be eligible for a pro-rated rate.  

Another bill, board bill 23, was on the agenda for final passage, but it will now be held until Tuesday after being amended earlier this week. 

Board Bill 23 would provide rental assistance to tornado victims through the city’s Impacted Tenant Fund. The board of aldermen has met three times this week to discuss this bill. 

“Typically a board bill from start to finish takes about a month, but this board is showing how we are moving diligently, and we are moving quickly,” Ward 14 Alderman Rasheen Aldridge said. 

Even if passed, though, it is unknown how many people will benefit. 

The funding for the rental assistance program sits at $100,000 right now, with another $160,000 expected to be allocated in the coming weeks. 

“We are working with the budget director and the administration to identify other potential funding sources we can pull from in order to get more money into that fund. I think everybody recognizes that $260,000 is not going to be enough,” Board of Aldermen president Megan Green said. 

Jacqueline Hines has owned her home on Page for 18 years. The back wall of the brick house collapsed in the tornado. 

She says she is grateful for all of the relief options being considered, but until she knows she qualifies, she is not waiting around. 

“Until then, we still have to keep going. I still need stuff to be moved and I’m not waiting on nobody. So if anybody needs a job, I’m hiring because I’m not sitting on this porch for the sun. It already burned me,” she said. 

If Board Bill 23 is approved on Tuesday, the city still needs to implement an application process. It is unclear exactly when renters would be able to apply for relief.