How are the new New Orleans property assessments, in the words of 6th District Assessor, Nancy Marshall, revenue-neutral? Asked to explain this in a WWNO interview this morning, Ms. Marshall only clarified that the new assessments are more equitable as home-owners paying taxes on old assessments will now have to pay what new home purchasers pay. This does not keep the city from making money, however, unless property taxes are rolled back.
Also, equitable? In pre-Katrina New Orleans, maybe. The new assessments entail simply pulling the value of a property up to similar ones assessed more recently, but what were those newer assessments based on? Does the current infrastructure reality of New Orleans — rising insurance costs, high crime, crumbling hospitals, poor roads, poor public schools — mesh with the outrageous prices of homes in dry, wet and slowly repopulating neighborhoods of this city? D pointed out that there are million-dollar homes in Haiti, but it’s Haiti. Looking at it like that, property value seems less like a function of the conditions of the area in which it sits and more like a separately-calculated constant — something we know it is (ought) not.
Again, when asked how the housing market in New Orleans fares, Ms. Marshall stated that it’s great and sales are up in “low-income” housing markets around the price range of $200,000, meaning that more nurses and teachers are moving back to New Orleans to help rebuild. Never mind that I don’t consider a $200,000 home to be low-income, notice that the condition of the market in areas such as Uptown, Garden District and Quarter/Marigny, that were just reassessed in the high-six to low-seven figures, is not remotely as rosy. What are these people going to do as their businesses struggle to survive, insurance and utility bills go up and the taxman cometh? Sell and leave, even if it means taking severe losses.
So, when will the online Property Records do-hickey start to reflect the new “revenue-neutral and equitable” assessments?
Stranger still.. we won’t know until November 30.. or so.. how serious anyone is about rolling back the millage (don’t hold your breath).. but you only have until August 15 to contest your assessment… with incomplete information obviously.
Ain’t reform grand!
I agree with you on this. I think that given the condition of the city that the assesments are too high. Apprently the assessors and politico’s have an inflated view of what New Orleans is worth right now. I do however think that assessments should be fair, in other words the large disparities of the past need to be corrected.
Didn’t Nancy Marshall run on the platform that she would do this, correct these obvious under assessed properties… and win?
Her statement does come with the assumption that millage will be rolled back, that is true. But state law requires this to happen.
She is doing what she said she would do, it seems. The complaint is that the millage will not actually be rolled back because of other elected officials. If this happens, is she to blame? She did her job, and is responding to folks appeals promptly.
How else do you correct the problem of the owner of the million dollar st. charles mansion paying less property tax than the folks returning to the city buying a $150k home?
As I imply above, assessments aren’t done in a vacuum; they take prevailing market and environmental conditions into account. For the life of me, I can’t see how every piece of infrastructure here plummets in quality, but house prices keep going up. People returning to the city shouldn’t be paying exorbitant prices, if this keeps up.
If this keeps up.
More than anything, this situation reflects the unsteady present and unsure future for New Orleans. If New Orleans fares well, people don’t want their homes undervalued; if it goes under, they don’t want their homes to be too pricey. In that light, perhaps assessments should be done every year.
My assessment increased 112%. If Nancy Marshall wants to buy my place as is, lock stock and barrel for $361k, it’s hers.