How to Cut Your Property Tax Bill

Property Assessment This Year Could Cost You Dearly But There Could Be a Solution

by Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News

CENTRAL — Every four years, parish assessors across Louisiana are required to reassess every building and tract of land in their respective parishes, and 2012 is a reassessment year.

For property owners in East Baton Rouge Parish, this could meet significantly higher property taxes this December.

But don’t worry.  I’m going to explain how your family could pay less in property taxes, rather than more, and those savings could carry over for years to come.

First, a few words of explanation about how your property taxes are calculated.  It begins with the actual value of your home.  Suppose your home is appraised at $300,000.  Your assessed value should be $30,000, because homes and land are assessed at 10 percent of their actual value.  Commercial buildings are assessed at 15 percent of actual value.  If you reside in the home, deduct $7,500 from the assessed value for your homestead exemption.  That leaves an assessed value for property tax purposes of $22,500.

Second, wherever you live, you will have to pay a specific millage rate, and that rate varies throughout the parish, depending on what taxing districts you are in.  A mill is 1/10th of one percent of the assessed value.  So, if the tax rate where your home is located in 89 mills, the amount due on your $300,000 home, which is assessed at $30,000 and subject to a $7,500 in homestead exemption, would be $22,500 x .089 = $2,002.50.

Now, let’s talk about how to reduce your property taxes this year!

There are tens of thousands of pieces of property in East Baton Rouge Parish.  So the reality is that the parish assessor, Brian Wilson, has not been able to send someone out to your house this year to appraise your property for tax purposes.  Instead, he has assessed property by subdivision or by area.  His staff takes the property transactions that have occurred over the past year in your area and averaged them, in order to come up with a ballpark figure of what your property is worth.  These are “mass appraisals” — not individual appraisals.

Parishwide, his staff’s calculations show that the value of property in much of the parish has gone up.  That’s why governmental bodies were required to “roll back” their property tax millages to generate the same property tax collections as last year.

But now governmental units, such as the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, are holding public hearings to consider by a two-thirds vote rolling the millage rates back up to their previous levels, thereby raising your individual property taxes, sometimes significantly.

The Republican Party of East Baton Rouge Parish is fighting many of these “roll forwards” and has already succeeded in killing one of them — a $1.5 million tax increase by BREC.

Now, guess what?  At the same time that the assessor has found property values going up, the Baton Rouge Board of Realtors has found that they are going down!  They say the average home price in the parish is down from $214,871 to $204,139, and I say they’re right!

During the week of Aug. 13, you should receive a notice from the tax assessor telling what your new assessment is.  The tax rolls will be open for inspection for 15 days from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7.  If you believe your assessment is wrong, just pick up the phone and call the assessor’s office at 389-3920 or go down to 300 North Blvd.  Perhaps you’ve had damage to your home or perhaps the assessment just doesn’t make sense.  Tell the assessor’s staff member why you think your assessment is wrong.

Chances are very good that they will listen and that your assessment will be reduced.  Fight for what you believe is right.  Remember, the assessor is there to protect you, and he’ll probably do just that.  Maybe you can “roll back” your own taxes and make 2012 not such a bad tax year after all!  Let us know your results by emailing us at centralcitynews@hotmail.com.

Woody Jenkins is editor of the Central City News and chairman of the Republican Party of East Baton Rouge.