SLIDELL, La. – Pastor Terry Jones, the leader of the tiny Florida church Dove World Outreach Center, stirred up worldwide controversy with his threat to burn copies of the Quran on 9-11. And now it turns out that Jones and his wife may have been getting a tax break in St. Tammany Parish that they don't deserve on a home they own in Slidell.
The St. Tammany assessor records reveal that Jones and his wife have been getting a homestead exemption, exempting them from paying taxes for the first $75,000 in value on their house. They paid just over $300,000 for it in 2007.
The law says you are only entitled to the exemption if you live in the house.
A neighbor of the Jones' house, Holly Brauer, said she hasn’t seen anyone living there in the last two or three years. She said she and her husband did see people staying in the house when Hurricane Gustav hit in 2008.
“During Gustav there were a lot of kids staying there. I think they had several families staying there during the hurricane,” Brauer said.
But since then, she said, the place has appeared to be vacant. She said she and her husband are in the neighborhood all the time.
“We're retired, we're home, all day we're here,” Brauer said. “We never see anyone.”
A next-door neighbor who didn’t want to go on camera said no one has lived here permanently since the Jones family bought the house. He said sometimes members of the church will stay here.
As for the Jones family, he said they’ve been here maybe half a dozen times. He said they come and they visit, but they haven’t lived here.
The St. Tammany assessor's web site says the homeowner is supposed to apply for a homestead exemption. But in the past, Assessor Patricia Schwarz Core has acknowledged she has allowed home buyers to essentially inherit the homestead exemption from the previous owner if the deed indicates the new owner will be getting his or her mail at that address.
In a phone conversation, Core said she did not see a record of the Jones family applying for a homestead, but she would do further checking.
Here in Slidell, neighbor Holly Brauer said she thinks it's terrible that the Joneses are getting a homestead exemption when they are apparently not living here.
“It is very much cheating the system. Very much so,” she said. “If you’re not living there, you shouldn't get that. It's not a benefit you’re allowed to have.
“What can I say?” said the other neighbor who didn’t want to talk on camera. "People take advantage of everything."
Calls to Pastor Terry Jones' church, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, seeking comment about his property taxes in Slidell were not returned.
