Three different bills dealing with revaluations because of hurricane damage are working their way through the Legislature.

Existing law, La. R.S. 47:1978 requires the revaluation of flooded property in the year of the flood even if the assessment rolls have been certified.

HB 148 (Rep. Arnold)

Revaluations

Creates a new La. R.S. 47:1978.1 that complements La. R.S. 47:1978. It expands on La. R.S. 47:1978 by requiring revaluation not only in the case of floods, but also in the case of property damaged or destroyed during a declared disaster or emergency.

The bill establishes procedures for the revaluation for both the flood provisions of La. R.S. 47:1978 and for the new provisions of La. R.S. 47:1978.1. If the assessment rolls have not been completed they will be revised based upon the damaged value of the property being assessed and the normal procedures for appeals would apply. If the assessment rolls have been certified to the Board of Review, the Assessor will prepare a supplemental roll, which will be subject to the normal procedures for appeal. If the rolls have been certified to the Tax Commission, the Assessor may use supplemental assessment procedures or change order procedure to revise the valuations. If the change order procedure is used and the taxpayer does not agree with the change order, the taxpayer has ten days from the date of mailing by the Assessor of notice of the change order to file a protest with the Louisiana Tax Commission. All decisions of the Tax Commission are final unless appealed to the District Court within ten days of the mailing of notice of the decision of the Tax Commission.

Millages

Provides that the revaluations do not result in automatic millage rollups under the provisions of La. Const. art 7, sect. 23. Automatic millage rollups will still occur to cover bonded debt.

Filing of Assessment Rolls

The time for filing tax rolls for 2005 taxes (2006 taxes for Orleans Parish) would be extended until March 31, 2006.

Payment of Taxes

The time for the payment of taxes would be extended for 2005 taxes (2006 taxes for Orleans Parish) to forty-five days after certification and approval of the tax rolls by the Tax Commission or December 31, 2005, whichever is later. [Under this provision, the taxes in the areas of the state that do not require revaluations will be due on December 31 as required by current law. In those parishes were revaluations could be done before November 15, the normal due date of December 31 would apply. In those parishes were revaluations can not be done before November 15 (St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, Orleans, and many of the other coastal parishes) the taxes will be due after December 31 based on when the rolls are certified, but in all cases before May 15, 2006].

HB 148 will be considered by the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee tomorrow.

SB 103 (Sen. Quinn)

Creates a La. R.S. 47:1978.1 that allows for the revaluation of property damaged in a declared disaster or emergency. How the revaluation is done is decided by the individual taxing jurisdictions (In Orleans the decision would be made on a parish wide basis by the City Council). Each individual taxing jurisdiction (parishes, school boards, levee districts, drainage districts, etc.) could either: (1) instruct the assessors to do a full revaluation based on the fair market value after the disaster or emergency under provisions similar to HB 148, or (2) provide for the proration of the tax bill based upon the number of months during the tax year that the property was “habitable”. The bill does preclude millage rollups and does have provisions for the postponement of taxes similar to HB 148.

SB 103 is awaiting Senate Floor action.

SB 104 (Sen. Schedler)

This bill appears to be identical to SB 103 by Sen. Quinn.

SB 104 is awaiting Senate Floor action.