In The News

The Bureau of Governmental Research, a watchdog group, echoes the sentiment.

“The Tax Commission’s ratio studies do not always paint an accurate picture of assessor performance,” according to a recent BGR report on changing property-assessment practices in New Orleans. “The Tax Commission often includes assessments that have already been adjusted to the sale. This undermines the validity of the studies.”

Speaking at a Bureau of Governmental Research breakfast Tuesday, Williams defended Mauberret’s assessment of the W Hotel, adding more fuel to the speculation that the outgoing 2nd District assessor would have a place in Williams’ office.

Newly elected citywide assessor Erroll Williams raised eyebrows at a recent Bureau of Governmental Research meeting when he launched into an unprompted defense of 2nd District Assessor Claude Mauberret’s appraisal of the W Hotel in the French Quarter.

The new mayor will need to bring residents back, lower crime and improve public education, said Janet Howard, chief executive officer of the Bureau of Governmental Research, a non- partisan public policy research group in New Orleans.

The trade group has asked for a $6.2 million payment to terminate its lease of the building: $5 million that it was supposed to receive from the most recent failed redevelopment efforts, plus the $1.2 million lease termination payment that the Bureau of Government Research had suggested in a report last year.