Thanks to new audit identifying oil and gas properties, property values up $40 million in Iberia Parish, Louisiana

Iberia property value up $40 million

BY HOLLY LELEUX-THUBRON
THE DAILY IBERIAN

Assessed value of property in Iberia Parish has increased $40 million this year, thanks to a pricey audit commissioned to identify all property related to the oil and gas industry, said Iberia Parish Assessor Rickey Huval.

The auditing firm did a thorough job, Huval told the Iberia Parish Council at a special meeting Wednesday night. The council acted as a board of review for Huval’s 2010 property valuations.

Huval said the firm identified through GPS mapping and photographs an additional $40 million in property related to the industry of which his office was unaware.

The find will increase the parish’s tax collections by about $300,000 per year, Huval said.

The audit report also allows Huval to be sure inventory lists submitted to his office from oil and gas companies are correct in the future.

Huval said he could have made tax collections on the property retroactive for the past three years. However, he said in an effort to be business friendly and “not run them out of our parish,” he decided to impose the assessments on the property from 2010 going forward.

Huval’s assessed valuation of real property for 2010 totaled more than $318 million. Personal property, that which can be moved, is worth more than $262 million.