A fight over limiting tax growth on homeowners is on the horizon

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Representative Matthew Willard was heavily courted to run for New Orleans City Council, but instead he has focused his attention on garnering public support for the constitutional amendment – which he authored and passed through the legislature in the recent session. If successfully enacted, no Orleans Parish homeowner will see the taxable value of their homes increased by more than 100 percent every 10 years.

Property taxes are assessed on the value of a home, based in part on the sale prices of the properties in the neighborhood surrounding that home. In other words, the recent gentrification of historically Black neighborhoods has all but forced an exodus of long-time residents because properties that were $80,000 twenty years ago are now valued at $800,000. Such a tax bill amounts to far more than the original mortgage, and becomes effectively unaffordable for the average homeowner.

At the close of the recent legislative session, the Louisiana House of Representatives voted 93-1 to concur with the Senate amendments added to HB 143, sending the proposed constitutional amendment to a statewide referendum for final passage by Louisiana voters on November 8, 2022. HB 143 would cap the annual increase on a taxable assessment for residential properties with a homestead exemption at 10 percent. Importantly, the limitation would not apply to rental or commercial properties. Additionally, the 10 percent cap will not apply if the property changes ownership or if a home’s value is increased during an assessment year due to renovation or additions to the home; and it only applies to residents of Orleans Parish.

Willard originally wanted the amendment language to protect those possessed of a homestead exemption across the entire state, yet faced with opposition from assessors and local government officials outside of Orleans Parish, the State Rep. agreed to limit the scope of the amendment – even with the knowledge that statewide voters often vote against Orleans-specific constitutional measures.

“It was the only choice we had if we wanted to get this on the ballot,” Willard explained to The Louisiana Weekly. He opted to take care of his own constituents, and remains hopeful that voters around Louisiana will nonetheless approve the measure. Perhaps, in a hope, that the next amendment may include protections for them as well.

“I want to thank my colleagues in the House and Senate for moving this bill forward to the voters. My intent was always to provide tax relief to New Orleans homeowners, and I want to thank every New Orleanian who called for and supported this legislation,” said Rep. Willard. “We have one last hurdle to clear before it becomes law, and it’s a big one. I look forward to working with housing, community and cultural organizations to help pass this constitutional amendment.”

Regardless, he acknowledged that many local governmental leaders across the state fear this amendment because they believe it will limit future growth of government revenues. The state representative has stressed to those mayors and assessors that his only aim is to keep working class (often minority) homeowners in their own houses. As has New Orleans Assessor Erroll Williams, who has labored for years to put some kind of valuation growth limit, only to be stopped – time and again – by the Local Government Committee of the state Senate.

Often, these senators were doing the bidding of Williams’ fellow assessors, whose budgets were dependent on millage revenue, and whose offices disproportionately benefited from large jumps in home valuation. They shut down Williams’ attempts to limit valuation increases to twice the rate of inflation.

Upon Rep. Willard’s election on a platform of keeping people in their own homes, Williams and members of the New Orleans City Council partnered with him to develop HB 143. The initial reaction was far from positive.

Rep. Willard initially proposed this legislation for the 2020 Regular session but voluntarily withdrew the bill. Officially, this was at the behest of House Speaker Schexnayder who requested all non-COVID related bills be pulled to allow the body to focus on the pandemic. Unofficially, they encountered heavy resistance. As a consequence, Willard and his allies launched a year-long, statewide lobbying campaign, entering the current legislative session with a sense of inevitability on the amendment’s passage.

Opponents of the constitutional amendment apparently have opted to save their vocal opposition for the autumn elections, reportedly engaging in an anti-New Orleans whisper campaign, undaunted by the hypocrisy that Willard would have been thrilled to make the measure apply to the whole state.

It is for that reason that the Orleans Parish state representative is pleading for not just a strong pro-amendment turnout from voters in the city, but he is also asking the electorate around the state, Republicans and Democrats alike, to stand up for the concept that a Louisianian should not have to lose his or her home simply due to the fact that the newest tax bill has grown so far beyond what the initial payment for their home ever suggested it would become.

This article originally published in the July 5, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.