Orleans Parish School Board opts not to hike milliage
19th December 2011 · 0 Comments
By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer
“There are people mad at us for NOT raising taxes,” an exasperated Thomas Robicheaux, member of the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB), confessed to The Louisiana Weekly.
The OPSB was one of the only taxing bodies in Orleans Parish to decide not to raise total property taxes thanks to rising home assessment values.
In contrast, the Algiers Levee District rolled forward from 12.27 mills back to 12.76 mills three weeks ago. They were joined by the Sewerage and Water Board and other municipal taxing bodies. None raised homeowners taxes quite as boldly as the New Orleans City Council, though.
On December 1, at Mayor Landrieu’s behest, the Council unanimously raised property taxes by over $3 million without a public vote.
The 7-0 vote for the millage “roll forward,” keeps the 2011 millage rate in place despite the fact that the citywide assessment total rose this year.
Translation: The same tax rate will yield more money due to the fact that the total assessed value of property in New Orleans rose by several percentage points. The city’s new single assessor, Erroll Williams, re-examined 99,500 of the 166,000 properties citywide and changed the assessments of 81,575 of them. Of those that were changed, about three-quarters were increased, while one quarter got reductions. Consequently, because of the “roll forwards” some 60,000 local property owners whose house assessments increased this year were in real danger of net property tax increases because of the council’s and the other agencies’ actions.
Under Louisiana state law, when total assessments rise, most agencies funded by property taxes must automatically reduce their tax rate—so as not to derive any extra money from the higher assessments. However, there is a proverbial loop hole. The trick is that the taxing body then can then decide to restore, or “roll forward,” the previous level, producing extra revenue.
And, despite numerous provisions in home rule charters that require public referendums before property taxes can be increased, these agencies and municipal governments can “roll forward,” and increase taxes, without ever consulting the electorate at the ballot box.
Initially, Mayor Landrieu’s recommendation in November to roll forward the 2011 millage rate got a hesitant response from council members. As the department-by-department review of the 2012 budget progressed, though, council members grew more open to increasing revenue. All confessed that part of their willingness came from a lack of public outcry about the tax increase proposal.
Only thanks to the Orleans Parish School Board will homeowners avoid a tax hike. In fact, nearly two-thirds of property owners—those who’s assessments remained this same this year—can expect a small decrease in the property tax bills that will arrive in January.
Outrage over not raising taxes
While the state-run Recovery School District runs about three-fourths of Orleans Schools (but only accounts for two-thirds of the parish’s public school students), taxing authority still remains vested in the OPSB.
In past years, if assessments rose, the Orleans School Board tended to roll forward like other municipal agencies did this year.
However, a reform board, elected in the wake of Katrina, turned against many of the fiscal policies of the past in many areas, including taxation. A new majority comprised of Woody Koppel, Seth Bloom, Brett Bonin, and Thomas Robicheaux, with occasional help from Lourdes Moran, implemented new budgeting and fiscal policies that will actually make the School District debt free in just over a decade.
They also were tired of the old argument that increasing taxes by “rolls forward” was always permissible. As Robicheaux explained, “I am a social liberal, but I’m a fiscal conservative. I believe that there is a public trust to manage the money that we are given wisely.
And, that means trying to avoid abusing that trust.”
In other words, a stealth tax increase undone the improvements in its public reputation for which the OPSB has strived. As such, the Orleans School Board unanimously opted to cut the tax rate and leave schools to function on the same amount as last year, instead of reaping an extra $4.8 million this year. (In point of fact, the OPSB actually eliminated a dedicated tax, and left the other rates constant. The result was the same as if board members had not rolled forward any of the milliage rates. The overall mills charged by the Board fell.)
Charter schools, those under the RSD, in the Algiers System, and in the East Bank Collaborative shared a near universal outrage at the decision to keep revenues at the same level as last year. A “roll forward” tax hike would have garnered an extra $100 per student into the school budgets.
They appealed to the OPSB to reverse the decision to reduce the milliage rate from 40.34 to 38.633. Principals argued that they were unaware of the vote to reduce the milliage and would have testified against had they been notified.
Since most charter schools report to the RSD rather than the OPSB, several Principals and school officials used the defense that they were unaccustomed to even talking to the local school authority. Such excuses did not cut with OPSB President Lourdes Moran.
She maintained that the rollback was properly advertised, there was a public hearing on the issue, and the measure was on the October agenda.
So, if your property taxes remain the same this year, you know who to thank—the Orleans Parish School Board.
This article was originally published in the December 19, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
