Casino owners protest taxes

• By DAVID J. MITCHELL
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Apr 21, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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GREENSBURG — The owners of five truck stop casinos in rural St. Helena Parish are challenging a dramatic increase in their 2007 property tax assessments that boosted their annual parish tax bills by about 350 percent, tax rolls show.

Filed with the Louisiana Tax Commission last month, the casinos’ tax appeal centers on how much of their value should be taxed, according to court records and commission officials.

It’s a dispute over how much casino owners paid for the truck stops and how much of that purchase price is not taxable because it is attributed to good will. In this case, the assessments call for combined property taxes of about $573,000 on $4.6 million in assessed value in 2007 compared with about $127,000 on $1.024 million in assessed value in 2006, tax rolls show.

Good will is what a buyer and a seller agree a going business is worth in addition to tangible assets, such as buildings, land and equipment. Good will cannot be taxed under the state Constitution, casino attorneys have argued in court filings.

Jacobs Entertainment Inc. of Golden, Colo., or a separate holding company held by two top Jacobs executives, own the casinos through Louisiana limited liability corporations, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.

The casinos involved are the Lucky Magnolia Truck Stop and Casino; Forest Gold Truck Stop and Casino; St. Helena Express and Casino; Amite Plaza Truck Stop; and the Silver Fox Casino and a connected bar and a convenience store.

In Louisiana, assessments are based on a percentage of fair market value. Millage rates then are applied to assessments to derive property tax bills. That happens every four years.

Jacobs officials and attorneys said St. Helena Parish Assessor Wesley Blades is trying to tax good will and is chasing sales prices in a non-reassessment year, which they argue is illegal unless he reassesses property parishwide.

The casinos paid $399,298 in taxes under protest, Sheriff’s Office records show. That money is in escrow. Under the tax commission appeal, though, the challenged assessments would result in a slightly higher disputed tax figure which was not available Friday, Jacobs attorney Jenny Phillips said.

The tax increases are important in St. Helena, a parish with little industry and one where the School Board, which depends on property taxes, may run a deficit this year.

Jacobs officials and attorneys said they want assessments set at 2006 levels. However, the parish Police Jury on March 11 rejected an appeal by Jacobs officials to change the assessment.

At the same meeting, Blades said he plans to fight the appeal and has asked for a special defense fund to take on the casinos’ attorneys. “I feel I am justified here,” he said in a recent interview.

The state tax commission will hear the dispute before parties can head to court. The commission has set a hearing for 10 a.m. June 10 in Baton Rouge.