02:59 PM CST on Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Some owners of hurricane-damaged homes would face stiff tax bills, calculated partly on the homes' pre-storm value, if a bill approved by a Senate committee becomes law.

The bill passed on Wednesday was a compromise between parish property tax assessors and local government bodies, such as police juries, that depend on property tax revenue.

Assessors wanted to stick with current state law, which favors taxpayers by mandating a reassessment on badly damaged properties. Local governments, which get nearly all their money from property taxes, pushed for a system of "pro-rated" taxing: properties' would be based partly on the higher pre-storm value, partly on the lower post-storm value.

The compromise could affect homeowners in St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Calcasieu, Cameron, Lafayette and Terrebonne parishes. Those local governments could decide for themselves how to tax those properties, by voting for pro-rated tax bills in public meetings advertised well in advance. However, each taxing body would have to agree to the pro-rating by a two-thirds vote. And a majority of parish taxing bodies would have to agree to pro-rating. For example, six taxing bodies would have to approve pro-ration -- all of them with two-thirds votes -- in a parish that has 10 elected taxing bodies, such as city councils, school boards and police juries.

Otherwise, existing state law would apply, meaning all such tax bills would be calculated based on homes' and businesses post-storm condition.

Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard are exempt from the changes to current law, meaning their homeowners will get smaller property tax bills than under a pro-ration system, because the bills will be calculated to include their loss in value caused by a storm.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jeff Arnold, acknowledged that the bill could be unconstitutional, because state law requires taxes to be levied consistently. If his bill passes, one parish could use pro-ration and others could use the system in current law.

"There are still some constitutional questions," said Arnold, D-Algiers.

The Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee approved the measure without a vote, sending it to the full Senate.