Amendment 4 on the October 14th ballot would allow local governments to remove property tax exemptions from nonprofit organizations that lease housing and have repeated public health or safety violations. Public Affairs Research Council President Steven Procopio said the entity must have at least three violations within a 12-month period.
“And the parish has to, usually a parish council, determine in addition to the three code violations, that you are a hazard. Then they can prevent your tax exemption,” said Procopio.
Procopio said passage wouldn’t mean the tax exemption status is automatically pulled…
“And to be clear this wouldn’t require that, this would mean that each locality could choose to do that,” said Procopio.
When it comes to blight, Procopio said some believe this is one proposed way to punish the violator but on the other hand…
“Taking away their exemption isn’t going to give them extra money to fix this problem. Exactly what the right policy is that’s up to the voters,” said Procopio.
Early voting for the October 14th primary ends Saturday evening.
For more information on the four constitutional amendments on the ballot click here.
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