North Carolina’s historic preservation tax credits served as an example other states wanted to follow, says George Edwards, executive director of Historic Wilmington Foundation Inc. But the state may soon cease to be a model.

Those credits have faced the ax this legislative budget season, with one of the latest compromise budgets allowing them to expire. But a new House bill amending that budget proposal restores a form of the tax credit program for those who want to rehabilitate homes and commercial buildings with historic value, even as House and Senate leaders maintain that the credits should end.

“We’re going to remain optimistic,” Edwards said Thursday, referring to supporters of the incentives.

Those who oppose extending the credits argue that they make an exception for a few at a time when lowering taxes for everyone should be the goal.

Advocates like Edwards contend that getting rid of what he called “a perfectly good program” would do more harm than good. “The tax credits have been a great stimulant for investment, job creation, business creation and stronger communities,” he said, adding that they have also resulted in an increase in property values.

The amendment by Rep. David Lewis (R-Harnett) seeks an historic preservation tax credit proposal worth 15 percent of renovation expenses up to $10 million and 10 percent for expenses between $10 million and $20 million.

The state credits were designed, Edwards said, to piggyback on a federal program that dates back to 1976 for commercial properties and created an incentive to save historic homes. Edwards said Wilmington and Asheville have led the state in the number of projects to receive North Carolina tax credits in years past, with a total of 51 projects in Wilmington since the credits were implemented in 1998.

Starting a grant program next year as an alternative to extending the incentives, which expire Dec. 31, would create a gap in funding that would lead to more problems in the long run, Edwards said.

The budget proposal was still being considered by the state House on Thursday afternoon.