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Assessors regret stance of watchdog, newspaper

Assessors regret stance of watchdog, newspaper
Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Re: “All over the map,” Page 1, Jan. 27.

The Orleans Parish Board of Assessors regrets that the Bureau of Governmental Research and our local newspaper have teamed up to exploit our post-Katrina assessment adjustments in a persistent effort to further tarnish our image and to advance your agenda for one Orleans Parish assessor.

Clearly our board recognizes its physical limitations when it comes to estimating the damage to individual properties caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

All property damage was not caused by flooding alone, and, for that reason the Board of Assessors, with the help of the Louisiana Assessors Association, LABI, Louisiana Tax Commission, and the Louisiana State Legislature, were able to pass legislation that recognized that wind and rain damages must be included when estimating adjustments to assessments.

We practice mass appraisal theory — not single-property appraisal theory. Mass appraisal is the systematic appraisal of groups of properties as of a given date. We believe that we have followed the law by making assessment adjustments that reflect damage estimates caused by these storms. We do not agree with your contention that property along the river escaped damage by water, just because there was no apparent sustained flooding.

Our field research indicated that many property owners along the river incurred damages from ground water to flooring and Sheetrock, in addition to considerable wind damage.

The Orleans Parish Board of Assessors will continue to remain focused on our mission to bring about fair and equitable assessment practices to the property owners of Orleans Parish.

Darren G. Mire

1st District

Claude T. Mauberret

2nd District

Erroll G. Williams

3rd District

Betty Jefferson

4th District

Thomas Arnold

5th District

Al Coman

6th District

Henry F. Heaton

7th District

New Orleans

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