ST.TAMMANY, La -- Our investigative reports on the St. Tammany Parish Assessor's Office uncovered policies, procedures and mistakes that the assessor herself admits could have cost the parish millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.
The Metropolitan Crime Commission has now made an official request, asking the legislative auditor to investigate the St. Tammany Parish Assessor's Office.
“I think there really should be an independent review of what's happening in that office,” said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission. “The logical entity to do it would be the Louisiana legislative auditor to step in at this stage.”
Our investigation revealed that some business parks, office buildings, and condominium complexes are 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.
How big a discount can "use value" give a property owner?
Getting the discounted "land use" designation slashed the property taxes of the Ashland Oaks business park -- owned in part by state Sen. Jack Donahue -- from $25,500 to just $59.
The assessor, Patricia Schwarz Core, said at first it was justified.
Donahue's partner, Gary Intravia, applied for and received the designation for their property.
The senator said he knew nothing about the special "use value" designation before seeing one of our reports about it, but admits his property has not qualified for some time.
As in the other cases we found, Core said she's going after the back taxes Donahue and his partners should have paid.
“That means they will receive a tax bill for the years that they did not pay under the full market value of that property, and if it was under the use value assessment, they would be paying the full value on that property,” said Core.
She said she's going to recover $50,000 from Donahue and his partners, but why didn't she catch this and the other violations we found - including a condominium development and an office building - before we told her about them?
Core said the system is based entirely on the honesty of the property owner.
“We are not to police land use. The assessors do not police land use. We do not go out and inspect land use,” said Core. “That is not part of our job. It is up to the land owner to give us correct information and truthful information about the property when they apply for land use.
"We have to take their word for it,” Core said. Jefferson Parish Assessor Lawrence Chehardy said the assessor should try to police properties with use value assessments.
“I think the assessor should do, make an effort to make certain that those properties that are getting it are in fact entitled to it,” said Chehardy.
Goyeneche -- said Core's explanation that she has to rely on property owners to be honest is unacceptable.
“There is an honor system, but you have to realize that not everybody is going to operate honorably and honestly,” Goyeneche said. “And there has to be some degree of due diligence on the part of a public official to make sure that there's an enforcement.”
The law calls for the property owner to certify on this application that his property legally qualifies for the "use value" assessment.
Within 60 days of the time the property no longer qualifies, the property owner is supposed to notify the assessor that he should be taxed based on the fair market value of his property.
Core admits that's not likely to happen.
“I've had, I think two taxpayers -- this is my 17th year in office -- to come in and ask me to take something off the tax roll that I can remember, and that's about it,” said Core.
“I would think that it would be a fundamental thing that the assessor would implement some type of policy and procedure just to check those, to see that those people are eligible and are in compliance,” Goyeneche said.
“At the very least members of her staff could drive by that property and just do a visual inspection,” Goyeneche added. “And they could probably drive by 15 or 20 of those property sites every day, and I believe the entire parish could be covered in a reasonable period of time."
Core said 63 percent of the property in St. Tammany has the dramatically discounted "use value" tax rate.
“You're talking about, you know, potentially millions of dollars that the parish is foregoing because of these special designations,” Goyeneche said.
Core said she and her staff had no way of knowing this condo complex was going up on property designated as "use value" in Mandeville because the parish government failed to send her office a building permit.
“If we didn't get a building permit, we have no way of knowing,” Core said.
Parish President Kevin Davis said his staff regularly and consistently sends Core the permits she needs to see. He said she can find the permits on the parish web site - just like anyone else who wants to see them.
Core said the website doesn't have everything her office needs and she insists the parish doesn't send her office the permits it needs regularly or consistently. She asked us to intervene.
“I'd appreciate it if you'd go talk to Kevin Davis' office and the permit department,” said Core. “And maybe get some things done there to where we definitely get every single permit and every single occupancy permit that is applied for.”
If she truly has a problem getting permits from parish government, Goyeneche questions why Core herself hasn't done something to make sure she does get them.
“To say this is the way it's set up and that's the way it is and I can't do anything about it,” said Goyeneche. “Has she written any letters complaining about it? Has she had any meetings with anybody?”
Core said members of her staff have asked people in parish government for a better way of getting permits, but she has had no formal meetings with the parish president or anyone else about it.
The state law says when a property owner fails to notify the assessor within 60 days that his property no longer qualifies for a use value assessment, he should be penalized.
According to the law, "he shall be liable for a penalty equal to five times" the back taxes he should have paid.
In the case of Senator Donahue's Ashland Oaks business park, that would mean he and his partners should be slapped with a penalty of $250,000.
Core said she won't enforce the penalty against Ashland Oaks.
“No, we have not assessed the penalty on that,” said Core. "Because we have never done it to anyone else.”
Goyeneche questions whether the assessor has the authority to choose not to enforce the penalty.
"The language in there is shall, not may. Usually in the law, when you use the word shall that's usually an indication that you don't have discretion."
Goyeneche said the assessor's office has the ability to save a property owner tens of thousands of dollars.
“So there has to be some recognition of the potential for somebody corrupting that office,” said Goyeneche. “And there should be some policies, checks and balances in place to make sure that that the employees are fairly and appropriately following the polices and laws.”
So far, he said, Core has responded to the problems we have uncovered with too many excuses and too few solutions.
He said the legislative auditor needs to investigate.
