NEW ORLEANS - After months of work by the group Together New Orleans (TNO) and the office of Council President Helena Moreno asking for corporations with cancelled property tax breaks to be taxed accordingly, finally, the New Orleans Assessor is taking action. The Assessor's Office will now place some previously exempt properties back on the tax rolls and launch a comprehensive review to ensure other cancelled exemptions haven't been missed.
"I'm incredibly proud of my office and TNO for their persistence in this matter. It's now confirmed that there are at least two cancelled exemptions for one company that should have been back on the property tax rolls. Now, the Assessor has agreed that there was an oversight and this particular company will likely owe the City more than $700,000," said Councilmember Moreno. "Moving forward, I am formalizing my call to institute much greater oversight of the status of each of these expensive industrial exemptions to ensure the City receives revenue that is legally-owed and that the tax burden is equitably shared across New Orleans. "
The tax exemptions under review are called Industrial Tax Exemptions (ITEs). These are granted by the State Board of Commerce and Industry, but also now by local governments. Councilmember Moreno spearheaded the creation of local rules to promote accountability, effectiveness, and fairness in the ITEP process. Once granted, the Louisiana Economic Development Department retains data on the status of these exemptions on their online portal called FastLane.
Councilmember Moreno will file a resolution next week urging the Assessor to provide written information to the City Council on how all ITE's will be reviewed for their status, the results of this review and annual reports on the status of contracts moving forward.
The Assessor's Office is not a City agency, and therefore, cannot be forced to comply with this resolution. However, President Moreno expects that the Assessor will provide the information requested in the resolution as a courtesy to the people of New Orleans.
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Media Contact:
Andrew Tuozzolo
Chief of Staff
Office of Councilmember-at-Large Helena Moreno
AVTuozzolo@nola.gov
(504) 281-9882