Tax exemption for disabled veterans to be on Nov. ballot

Evangeline Parish residents can expect to see an additional ad valorem tax exemption for disabled veterans on the 2015 ballot during the November runoff election.
An ad valorem tax is a tax that is based on the value of the real estate or personal property being taxed. In the state of Louisiana homeowners experience an ad valorem tax exemption on the first $75,000 value of their homestead. Now, come November Evangeline Parish will have the opportunity to vote on whether they would like to allow disabled veterans to receive an additional $7,500 tax exemption.
In 2014, Amendment 7 was voted on and passed with just over 74 percent of voters voting yes to make this additional homestead tax exemption left up to the residents of each parish to decide whether or not the exemption would be offered to veteran homeowners residing in that parish.
Amendment 7 was placed on the 2014 ballot after unclear wording led to issues concerning a very similar additional tax exemption that was passed in 2010 as Amendment 3.
Amendment 3 gave Louisiana parishes the ability to grant veterans with 100 percent “service-connected disabilities” ad valorem tax homestead exemptions up to $150,000. Issues with the wording of this amendment arose once veterans with a 100 percent “unemployability” rating were not allowed the tax exemption because their “service-connected disability” rating was, for example, maybe only 75 percent.
Amendment 7 was designed to right the wrong or confusion of Amendment 3 by extending this homestead tax exemption to veteran homeowners who possess a “service-connected disability rating of one hundred percent employability or totally disabled by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs.”
Amendment 7 also made it clear that it would be left up to the residents, through a parish-wide vote, to determine if the additional tax exemption will be offered to veterans living in that parish that meet the requirements stated in the amendment.
Police Jury Secretary Donald Bergeron feels that losing any amount of tax dollars does not help the parish financially. Even though Bergeron recognizes the negative affect the loss of any money can have on the parish, he still feels that the veterans who fit Amendment 7’s requirements do deserve this. “The dilemma we have is that we will go to the public to reach revenues to house prisoners but a lot of people just say that we need to redirect the taxes,” Bergeron said. “We don’t have the tax dollars to redirect.”
However, when it comes to knowing the amount of tax dollars that the parish would lose if the amendment were to pass, that number has been difficult to uncover. Bergeron said, “I have tried to find out how many veterans we have in this parish that would qualify for this exemption but I have not had any success.”
While this amendment, if passed, would cause the parish to lose tax dollars Bergeron said, “Before we say anything about that we should take a look at all of our own tax exemptions.”