ST. TAMMANY, La. – The St. Tammany Parish assessor has taken action to remove a tax exemption from approximately 2,000 homeowners, part of a problem highlighted in a series of WWL-TV reports last year, raising questions about drastically discounted “use value” taxes for some property owners.
In a statement released Tuesday, assessor Patricia Schwarz Core said she has removed the “use value” exemption from approximately 2,000 homeowners who did not verify their qualification for the exemption.
Core, who her spokesman said was unavailable for an interview, is also “investigating others for possibly misrepresenting their eligibility for the exemption,” the news release said.
A series of reports by WWL-TV’s Dennis Woltering in 2010 highlighted some business park, office buildings, and condominium complexes paying a drastically discounted "use value" or "land use" tax, meant for farming, timber production and wetlands, when they should be paying a tax based on fair market value.
The “use value” tax gave one property, owned in part by state Sen. Jack Donahue, a tax break of more than $25,000. After the WWL-TV report, Core said she would seek back taxes from that property and others.
The statement from Core on Tuesday said more than 9,000 property owners returned forms to Core’s office which asserted their right to the exemption. The 2,020 who did not respond have had their use value removed and have been sent property tax bills for their regular assessment rate. 306 of the 9,324 who said they did qualify were found not to meet requirements and were placed on the tax roll at market value. 11 others have also been found to be “questionable” according to Core’s statement, and an investigation continues into whether the parish is owed back taxes.
In response to the WWL-TV reports last year, the Metropolitan Crime Commission requested the state Legislative Auditor look into the assessor’s office.
In her statement, Core repeats the claims made in the news reports, that people falsely applying for or receiving the use-value designation could be prosecuted for fraud.
"Not only are these offenses potentially criminal, but on a more practical level they deny public agencies tax revenues to which they are entitled and increase the tax burden on their neighbors. With more than 125,000 assessed properties in St. Tammany Parish, it is impossible to visit every one. Using technology and the manpower we have, we work year-round to verify assessments and identify those who evade property taxes, and penalties are being imposed in accordance with the law," Core’s statement said.
