§1993. Preparation and filing of rolls by assessor

A.(1) As soon as the assessment lists have been approved by the parish governing authorities as boards of reviewers, the assessors shall prepare the assessment rolls in triplicate after which one copy shall be delivered to the tax collector, one copy to the Louisiana Tax Commission, one copy to the recorder of mortgages, and two copies of the grand recapitulation sheet to the legislative auditor.

(2) If an assessor uses electronic data processing equipment to prepare the assessment rolls, the assessment data produced shall be made available upon request in a useable electronic media. The assessors shall prepare any such electronic assessment roll made available to tax collectors in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (A.S.C.I.I.) and may charge the tax collector a fee for preparing such information. This fee shall not exceed the actual cost of reproducing a copy of the assessment data in a useable electronic media and may be based upon the amount of data reproduced, any costs associated with converting to A.S.C.I.I., the amount of time required to reproduce the data, and any office supplies utilized in compiling and reproducing the data.

(3) The assessors shall prepare said rolls by parish, school board, police jury, levee district, special district and by any other recipients of ad valorem taxes, except by municipality. If any municipality requests such a roll, the assessor shall be required to prepare such a roll; however, the assessor's salary and expense fund shall be reimbursed by the municipality in accordance with R.S. 47:1993.1(C).

(4) If any municipality prepares its own tax rolls and assessment lists, upon approval of these rolls and/or lists by the parish governing authorities as boards of reviewers, each municipality shall prepare and submit to the Louisiana Tax Commission and the legislative auditor an annual statement of its millage rates and assessed valuation of property within its respective jurisdiction.

B. The assessors of the parishes of this state shall not file and deposit with the tax collector of their respective parishes the assessment rolls of any current year until the collector shall present a receipt or quietus from the auditor and the parish governing authority that all state and parish taxes assessed on the rolls of the preceding year have been paid or accounted for. If the tax collector is unable to present this receipt or quietus, the assessor shall immediately notify the auditor, the governing authority, and the tax commission of his completion of the assessment rolls of his parish and of his inability to file them by reason of the tax collector not having obtained the required quietus. Any assessor who shall violate the provisions of this Paragraph shall forfeit any and all commissions to which he may be entitled from parish or state for his labors in making and writing the assessment rolls.

C. The assessors shall secure the approval of the tax commission before filing their assessment rolls with the tax collector, and the tax commission may instruct all tax collectors not to receive from the assessor any assessment roll or collect any taxes thereon without the written consent of the tax commission. The tax commission may require the assessors to take an oath in a form to be prescribed by the tax commission declaring that he has complied with its instructions.

D.(1) Each tax assessor shall complete and file the tax roll of his parish on or before the fifteenth day of November in each calendar year. The officer having custody of the assessor's salary and expense fund shall withhold from the assessor's salary five dollars for each day of delay in the filing of the roll after such date.

(2) In accordance with the provisions of Article VII, Section 25(F) of the Constitution of Louisiana, tax rolls for 2005 and tax rolls for 2006 for Orleans shall be completed and filed on or before March 31, 2006, except that the tax rolls for 2005 for the parish of St. Bernard shall be completed and filed on or before June 30, 2006. Nothing in this Subsection shall prohibit the completion and filing of tax rolls prior to those dates.

E. Filing in the recorder's office shall be full notice to each taxpayer, and to each other person whom it may in any manner concern, that the listing, assessment, and valuation of the taxable property has been completed, that the rolls are on file in the sheriff's or tax collector's office and in the office where the mortgage records are kept and that the taxes are due and collectible, as provided by law.

F. The act of depositing the rolls by the assessor in the office where the records of the parish are kept, shall be deemed prima facie evidence that the assessment has been made and completed in the manner provided by law. No injunction shall be issued by any court to prevent any assessor from depositing the rolls. In the suit of any taxpayer testing the correctness of his or their assessments before any court of competent jurisdiction, the decision of such shall only affect the assessment of the person or persons in such suit, and shall in no manner affect or invalidate the assessment of any other person or property appearing upon the tax rolls.

G. From the day the roll is filed in the recorder's office, it shall act as a lien upon each specific piece of real estate thereon assessed, which shall be subject to a legal mortgage after the thirty-first day of December of the current year for the payment of the tax due on it, but not for any other tax, which mortgage shall prime and outrank all other mortgages, privileges, liens, encumbrances or preferences, except tax rolls of previous years.

H. The recorder of mortgages shall keep the roll delivered to him among the record books of his office, and it shall be a part of the record of such office. He shall index the tax roll in the current mortgage book under the head of "tax roll" and no further record thereof shall be necessary; however, the failure of the recorder of mortgages to mark the tax rolls "filed" or to index them shall in no way prejudice the rights of the state or any parish or municipal corporation.

Acts 1981, No. 431, §1; Acts 1982, No. 522, §1, eff. July 22, 1982; Acts 1988, No. 260, §1; Acts 1990, No. 830, §1; Acts 1991, No. 124, §1; Acts 2001, No. 1102, §10; Acts 2005, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 66, §1, eff. Dec. 6, 2005; Acts 2006, No. 622, §8, eff. Dec. 11, 2006.