Assessments are up and so is the number of people paying ad valorem taxes, Acadia Parish Tax Assessor James “Jimbo” Petitjean told police jurors during the regular October meeting.
“The more people paying taxes, the less each person has to pay,” he explained.
The total dollar amount of the list of assessments as certified is $358,435,139, according to Petitjean.
“The total dollar amount does not include the public utilities — which are assessed by the state Tax Commission — but it does include adjudicated properties,” he said.
That number represents an increase of $12,095,210, or 3.5 percent.
Petitjean noted that the total assessed value of all properties in the parish for 2020 is $420,332,881, up 4.49 percent from last year’s $402,278,345.
He explained that the total value takes into account public service assessments but backs out homestead exemptions and some other exemptions.
In the nine years that Petitjean has been in office, the total assessed value has risen to its current figure from $295,378,020, an increase of 42 percent.
This year there are 36,836 taxpayers in the parish, up almost 700 from 36,175 last year, according to Petitjean.
The number of taxpayers claiming homestead exemption dropped by 42, from 16,781 to 16,739.
The number of homestead exemptions in the parish is the lowest it has been since Petitjean took office in 2012.
Other statistice the assessor noted during the presentation to the police jury included:
— Total parcels are up 1 percent to 42,565 this year from 42,223 last year. That total represents an 8.8 percent increase since 2012.
— Total taxable items increased by 943 to 79,682 this year, an increase of 1.19 percent from last year. That figure has jumped by more than 7,000 since 2012, an increase of 9.9 percent.
— Total number of notices sent in 2019 was 36,538, up 2 percent from 2019’s total of 35,867.
Petitjean explained that the reason fewer notices are sent than the total number of taxpayers is that “a notice to a single taxpayer might include numerous parcels. Instead of sending a notice for each parcel, most taxpayers want just one notice.”
In a related matter, the police jury, on the recommendation of Petitjean, denied the appeal of Bayou Cove Peaking Power, LLC, owned by Cleco, who is protesting its 2020 ad valorem tax liability in connection with properties in the parish.
Petitjean’s office determined the fair market value of Bayou Cove’s property at $51,107,467. The company requested a fair market valuation of $32,969,603.
Cleco can appeal the police jury’s decision to the state Tax Commission.
