NEW ORLEANS - The New Orleans City Council will convene as the Orleans Parish Board of Review on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. to adopt revisions to property valuations conducted by Assessor Erroll Williams for next year's tax bills. According to information presented at the Sept. 26 meeting of the Council's Budget/Audit/ and Board of Review Committee, Chaired by Councilmember Jared Brossett, the Assessor revalued nearly 80,000 parcels of the 134,000 that were evaluated for the 2020 reassessment year.
This large level of property revaluation activity created a historically high number of appeals that were transmitted to the Council, with a total of 5,879 appeals. Presented with so many appeals and a very tight timeline under state law, the Council engages a third party administrator to provide for a fair and efficient hearing process that ensures an appellant's right to due process. This year, the hearings were held over a three week period of time starting in mid-September.
On Oct. 16, the Council will consider and adopt the recommendations for valuation adjustments based on the evidence presented at the hearings. After the Council has acted, it will begin to notify taxpayers of the determinations. If taxpayers are still unsatisfied, they can appeal to the Louisiana Tax Commission, the process for which will be included with the determination letters.
Council Budget Chair Jared Brossett said, "Taxpayers appeared to have been well-prepared at the hearings this year, which, I think, is in large part due to the Council's efforts to educate on the process. Appellants came prepared, presented good information, and, by and large, very favorable recommendations were made to us. The Board of Review can only use fair market valuation or use valuation as criteria for making adjustments to the Assessor's work, and taxpayers made it easy to do that by bringing our certified appraiser hearing officers strong evidence to make their case. Overall, given the high volume, I would call this year a very successful one."
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Contact:
David Gavlinski
Chief of Staff
(504) 658-1101
dsgavlinski@nola.gov