Editor’s note: Moving Forward is the first of a two-part series on how New Orleans is recovering from Hurricane Katrina as the two-year anniversary nears Aug. 29. Next week: Five stories detailing progress in the post-Katrina Crescent City.
Property owners have complained long and loud about the 2008 Orleans Parish property tax assessments.
Many homeowners say they don’t mind if taxes go up. They just want them to be fair.
Lines of people snaked inside and out City Hall last week in record-setting temperatures around 100 to challenge their assessments.
“Every assessor did not reassess (in 2004), so the issue is whether or not your property was reassessed four years ago,” said District B Councilwoman Stacy Head during a meeting last Monday convened by the nonprofit Central City Partnership. “I haven’t had a reassessment on my home since 1999.”
But the Louisiana Tax Commission mandated every home in the city be reassessed, and people who never before received assessments are squawking, said Tyra Helton, First District deputy assessor.
“It’s a big jump for those people because they haven’t had a reassessment in seven years,” Helton said.
She said many 2004 reassessments were not completed in the Fourth District where Assessor Betty Jefferson did not return repeated calls for comment.
Another problem is the seven assessors are inconsistent, Head said.
“There’s no law that says they have to have common sense,” she said. “Some (assessors) were assessing lot sizes only.”
Property owner Lisa Grant agrees.
Grant owns four properties, including one in Central City on Josephine Street, which was assessed before Hurricane Katrina at $183,000. Grant’s five-bedroom, 3,600-square-foot home in “fair condition” was assessed at $500,000.
Dixie Robillard owns several rental homes. One at 839 Sixth St. in the Fourth District was on the city’s demolition list yet her reassessment came in at $298,800. She and her husband, Michael Robillard, purchased the property in 1992 for $16,133. An independent appraisal on the home since the reassessment came in at $28,000.
Property assessments should be based on fair market value as of January, Head said. Homeowners don’t necessarily need to hire an appraiser, she said. Gauging the home’s worth by the amount it is insured for or by a similar home’s sale price in the same neighborhood also works.
Christian Hooper owns between 35 rental units under the banner Audubon Properties. He said the real issue is the millage, which is set at .17519. Council members have promised to lower the millage Nov. 30, although by how much is still in question. One mil of property tax equals $1 per $1,000 in property value. For a $200,000 home, first subtract the $75,000 homestead exemption, which leaves $125,000 in taxable value. If the property tax is 1 mil, a resident would pay $125 in property taxes.
by Jaime Guillet, New Oleans CityBusiness
