Some qualify for tax relief

• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Sep 16, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Local property owners whose homes and businesses suffered structural damage from Hurricane Gustav can apply for relief on their property taxes, East Baton Rouge Assessor Brian Wilson said Monday.

From now until Dec. 30, property owners can bring evidence of their storm-related loss — including insurance claims, photographs and contractors’ assessments — to Wilson’s office in the Governmental Building at 222 St. Louis St. to have their property reassessed for the property taxes due in December.

“We’ll take all of that information under consideration, and then determine on a case-by-case basis how much relief they are eligible for,” Wilson said.

In most cases, the damage to the structure will be deducted from the assessed value, Wilson said.

“If a home is completely destroyed by a falling tree, we’re going to take that house off the tax roll for this year,” he said.

The damaged or destroyed properties will be re-evaluated by the assessor’s office for 2009, he said.

“We’re talking about structural damage to a home or a commercial property itself. If you’ve got trees or limbs that are down but didn’t do any structural damage, that’s not going to qualify,” Wilson said.

Wilson said a state law passed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina provides such relief in parishes where an emergency has been declared as a result of a storm. Some parishes may opt to handle the relief through change orders to the new assessments, but Wilson said his office is planning to create a supplemental tax roll for storm-damaged properties in East Baton Rouge Parish.

“We’re going to file our original tax roll with the Tax Commission by Nov. 15, and property bills are still going to go out and hopefully the taxing agencies will still get their revenues on time,” Wilson said.

People with damaged property can pay their original bills and apply for a refund after the supplemental roll is done. Or they can wait until revised tax bills are generated for the damaged properties, Wilson said.

For additional information, contact the Assessor’s Office at (225) 389-3920.

On a related issue, Wilson said Hurricane Gustav hit during the two-week inspection period when any property owner is allowed to dispute their assessments, so he plans to reopen the inspection period at the end of the month.

“Our original inspection dates were from Aug. 21 through Sept. 5, and the storm hit on Labor Day, Sept. 1, so we missed four days,” Wilson said.