We all pay for government everyday and often question if we are getting our money’s worth.
But Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister wonders whether our government really is doing the job it is paid to do.
His latest column focuses on two stories in the most recent issue of Business Report pointing to reasons many oppose new taxes and don’t trust government or politicians.
“One was our cover story, “A failure to assess,” where we looked at just 12 commercial properties and found our parish could be leaving millions in annual property taxes on the table,” McCollister writes.
The second was “It pays to be a sheriff,” a story on the Legislature approving a 7% raise for sheriffs in Louisiana—making our own Sheriff Sid Gautreaux the highest paid in the state.
The project featured on the cover was the University House. The story notes that in October 2015, a Dallas company acquired the 287-unit apartment complex near LSU’s North Gate, then called The Standard, for $108.5 million. But nearly three years later, the student housing complex—since renamed University House—was assessed by East Baton Rouge Parish Tax Assessor Brian Wilson at just $3.3 million. That means the property was valued at $33.8 million, or about one-third of what it sold for in 2015.
The story examined a dozen properties and found on average they were assessed at 55% of their sale price. Wilson denies underassessing the properties.
“While many scream for more money,” McCollister asks, “what will our elected officials, like our mayor, mayor pro tem (the assessor’s brother), school board members, Metro Council members, sheriff and police chief, have to say? Are they concerned and going to address this issue—or give their fellow politician a pass?”
And questions should be asked of the sheriff as well, McCollister adds.
“Does the crime rate in our parish warrant that? Or is it based on our population as the largest parish?” McCollister asks.
The recent raise approved by the Legislature—paid mostly by local property taxes—comes after sheriffs received automatic raises for five straight years, a move approved by the Legislature in 2013 and tied to pay hikes for state judges, the publisher notes. “And while the Legislature and Gov. John Bel Edwards (whose brother is a sheriff) send this raise to the local level where we all pay, they also pass a sales tax for the state budget—which we pay, too,” he says.
To see these public servants get significant and automatic raises paid for by the taxpayers—and to see potential property taxes not being collected—is disturbing to many, McCollister writes.
“You get to speak out at the ballot box on new taxes and the re-election day of these politicians,” McCollister writes. “We get the government we deserve—and we pay for it.”
Read the full column. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com
