NEW ORLEANS — City Council members continue to look into why prices of home values have risen so much over the last four years.
And they took new action Thursday at the council meeting.
Assessor Erroll Williams appeared in front of the Economic Development and Budget Committee earlier this week, and explained the process of evaluating homes. Now the full council wants the state to take a look at the process.
I move adoption. Seeing no opposition it is 6-0,” Council Vice-President Helena Moreno said as she took the unanimous to ask the Louisiana Tax Commission and the Louisiana Legislative A,uditor to review the recent four-year assessment.
After a public outcry over the recent property assessments in Orleans parish, the city council took another step forward at its Thursday council meeting. Members want to get to the bottom of the major increase in property values on the new tax rolls.
“When we had the assessor before us the other day, he said that, that his office assessed
his home, and that he said that this office got his own home assessment wrong. So, what does that say really for the rest of us,” said Moreno.
They want to know if the assessor's office violated any state policies or laws when getting values.
“If you are always going to assess all properties in a parish at fair market value, there are people in your parish who are currently property owners who, would not be able to buy the house at fair market value that they currently live in,” said a resident at the podium.
“We need some oversight here. We need something to be done to stop this bleeding that's happening in our community. We are losing home ownership in this community faster than I've ever seen anything in my life, and finally we have a council that is willing to hear the pleas of the people,” said another resident at the podium.
“People calling us telling us some have even gone up more than 100 percent, wondering how they're even going to be able to remain in their homes due to these incredibly high assessments that they can not figure out,” added Moreno.
Assessor Erroll Williams was not at the meeting, but told our Eric Paulsen on the Eyewitness Morning News that he welcomes all reviews.
“My job is the chase fair market value. Try to determine it. Try and give everybody an equitable distribution at that fair market value, on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis,” said Assessor Erroll Williams before the vote.
“The constitution requires this reassessment to be revenue neutral. The Council resolution is nothing more than a political move trying to accuse this office of increasing property owners’ tax bills when they know that’s a false narrative. Taxes only go up if recipient agencies raise the millage rates. They may not “fully” roll forward, but they’re fully responsible for the tax increase if they do,” wrote Devin Johnson from Williams’ office in response to the vote.
Remember you can contest your assessment online now through August 18, or in person at the assessor’s office. Be sure to have pictures of the inside of your home, any damage, and documentation of the square footage. It also helps to have prices that homes in your neighborhood sold for.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.