Despite public outrage over St. Tammany’s new surging property assessments, home values on average were actually assessed below fair market value for 2008 tax rolls, according to an independent review by the state Tax Commission.

“The majority of assessments are fair,” Charles Abels, administer of the state Tax Commission, said at a press conference late Thursday afternoon. “In fact, this study shows the majority are actually a little low.”

Abels called for the review two weeks ago when the backlash over Assessor Patricia Schwartz Core’s new assessments became unprecedented, the largest he’s ever seen in 20 years of assessment oversight, he said. Some homes were appraised 160 percent higher than in 2004, meaning homeowners would likely pay up to three times as much property taxes in a parish that’s already among the most taxed in the state with 170 mills.

St. Tammany Parish Assessor Patricia Schwarz Core, left, and Louisiana Tax Commission Administrator Charles Abels tell reporters Core'€™s high assessments were actually under the fair market value.

Abels sent a team of 12 appraisers — fives times its normal manpower for such reviews — to examine values of 292 randomly selected homes in 31 neighborhoods.

“We wanted to see what was going on,” he said. “We wanted to make sure nobody was paying more (property tax) than they should.”

Within two weeks, appraisers found property values on average were assessed at 83 percent of fair market value, well below the 90 to 110 percent fair market value target the Tax Commission requires, Abels said. Another study showed 75 percent of homes were assessed below fair market value while only six of the 292 were assessed above fair market value.

Fair market value is defined as the price a buyer and seller can agree upon in a “reasonable” amount of time.

State appraisers also found, on average, no glaring inconsistencies between neighboring property values, contrary to what several local politicians and neighbors have said and a review by the St. Tammany News found.

For example, a plot of undeveloped and overgrown lots at 812 Maine Ave, just cattycorner and a stone’s throw from Slidell City Councilman Warren Crockett’s home, is valued at $220,387.

Meanwhile, the councilman’s manicured homestead at 707 Maine Ave., sitting on one lot less, is valued at $120,680, according to online records from at www.stassessor.org that show hundreds, if not thousands, of similar cases.

But while many claim house by house, street by street, the value of homes, at times, seem to spike at random, Abels said the “range of uniform is OK.”

On a scale with one being perfect and 20 failing, Core’s range of uniformity was 13.1, Abels said.

The news seemed to vindicate Core’s assessments that sustained a public lashing during the past two weeks for surging as high as 160 percent. Roughly 15,000 appeals were since filed.

On Thursday she attributed the higher assessments largely to hurricane repairs that were not assessed since the 2005 storm season. She based the assessments on the latter half of 2007 housing data, the latest market data available, to reach the 2008 figures, she said.

And on Thursday while she said she’s “not OK” with her assessments being under the 90 percent of the fair market value benchmark required by state law, she said later that “yes,” she feels justified after taking so much political heat.

She said the backlash, fueled by city and parish councilmen, Parish President Kevin Davis and even area lawmakers, was a political maneuver to gain favor with constituents who disapprove of higher assessments.

“I don’t understand why this is all going on, but to me it’s all political,” she said. “I’m really upset about it. This shows these assessments are fair.”

“These 15,000 appeals would have never happened if our parish president and legislators wouldn’t have” rallied to protest what state Rep. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, called an “injustice,” she said.

Core also did not attend a mandatory meeting Wednesday hosted by the St. Tammany Parish Council acting as the Board of Review to hear the first round of appeals file with them.

Many viewed her absence as a means to dodge face-to-face heat from homeowners.

But she said the council sent her homes slated for review just two hours before the meeting, not enough time to prepare. And on Thursday she produced a letter in which the council said it’s “unable to provide you with a list of appeals being heard this evening in advance of the meeting.”

For Thursday’s press conference she came prepared. With several hi-tech computers she looked up on the spot all the appeals held in front of the board of review.

“We believe there is no question the assessor proved Thursday night … she has the capabilities to look” assessments up at a moment’s notice, Jerry Binder said.

But Binder, who’s been an outspoken critic of the new assessments and didn’t want to enter a tit for tat with Core, said Friday the bottom line is homeowners are still hurting.

“People should not have to see huge surges in an upward direction in a four-year period. Bottom line,” he said, “it’s not reality.”

“Our program should not be to tax people to the max,” he added.

And whether or not the assessments are correct, Binder still has a personal problem with the skyrocketing figures.

“It’s not about who is right or wrong. It’s about the citizens being able to afford their homes. It’s about the future of St. Tammany,” he said. “How can a 100 percent increase be correct? In what other city in Louisiana does this happen?

“And if the Tax Commission believes the people are being under assessed, that these 50 to 80 to 100 percent increases are too low, then I personally have a basic disagreement with the Tax Commission.”

The Board of Review will continue to give those who appeal “fair and equitable assessments when and where change is dictated,” during hearings Friday and Saturday.