Fourth term as assessor begins after successful GIS addition
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
COVINGTON – After serving as the mayor of Abita Springs for 10 years, Louis Fitzmorris decided it was time to step up to a bigger position—something that was motivated by his own experiences dealing with the St. Tammany Assessor’s Office.
“During the years I was mayor we had endless problems with getting the correct assessments for our property in Abita Springs, which created a huge problem trying to know what to do in our budget,” he said. “We were practically guessing what the assessments would be to plan what we could spend money on.”
When Fitzmorris decided to run for assessor of the parish in 2013 he said there were many skeptics.
“Pretty much the only people who thought I could become the assessor was my family, and the people who worked with me in Abita,” he said.
Not only did Fitzmorris win the important parish job, but he has not lost it since that time, being inaugurated recently in the Justice Center to start his fourth term.
Fitzmorris has done more than convinced his skeptics about his ability to run the office. As he spoke to those in attendance at the inauguration, the assessor detailed some of the biggest improvements in the history of the Assessor’s Office that have been made since he came into office.
Leading the way was the decision to invest what eventually was a total of $7 million in a Geographic Information System (G.I.S.) that has allowed the parish to greatly increase the number of properties that pay taxes. Fitzmorris said that the increased revenue to the parish from adding parcels has more than paid for the system.
In years and decades past, it was up to employees in the office to figure out certain parcels or homes that had never been put on the tax rolls, including many that were in rural areas and hard to find. Since adding the GIS, dozens of properties that had managed to avoid paying taxes for years are now on the tax rolls.
The GIS system, essentially known by most as “Google Earth,” is a satellite view that can be zoomed all the way down to any inch of land in the U.S., including St. Tammany Parish.
Not only did the GIS system add numerous new parcels of land to the tax rolls, increasing revenue for all government agencies receiving millage money, but it has provided an incredible tool completely available for free to the residents of St. Tammany. Anyone can go on the assessor’s website now and use the system to view land anywhere in the parish. Not only can you locate sites, but each parcel has a wealth of information about the owner, land size and more—transparency and public information about assessments that built the trust of voters.
“My number one goal when I started was to restore the trust of the taxpayers and that really came about with the GIS system,” Fitzmorris said. “By having more properties on the tax rolls, it allows the taxing agencies to request lower millage since they are getting money from more people. And residents can find out information about any piece of land in the parish.”
There are now over 144,000 parcels of land and property on the tax rolls, while there were only a little over 126,000 before the system was put in place.
Another longtime problem in the office before Fitzmorris came on board was that assessments were frequently mishandled, leading to many mistakes. The GIS system, and a diligent effort from Fitzmorris’ staff, has completely turned that around.
“The first year I was here we had reassessment and there were over 2,000 appeals,” he noted. “This year we had only 100.”
Property owners in St. Tammany Parish face a reassessment of their property or home every four years. That just occurred heading into 2025 and Fitzmorris expected his share of heat due to a big increase in property values for parish residents.
“Property values have gone up 25 percent in the past four years, so I knew the owners would be seeing big increases in their property tax bills. But property owners have to understand that it’s all because their homes are worth more money now,” he remarked. “Even with a lot of questions, our staff handled it so incredibly well that, as I said, we had few appeals after we reviewed their questions.
“One thing about our office. We will make a mistake sometimes, but we are not afraid to admit it when we are shown something isn’t right. That’s why we have always told people not to hesitate to ask us if they think there was a mistake. We have fixed them many times before and are not afraid to change something if we see a mistake we made,” he added.
With property taxes going up so much this year—and additional revenue for the 38 taxing agencies in the parish—Fitzmorris said it led to 34 of 38 agencies rolling their millage back.
But the assessor has still not been shy about publicly stating things he believes should change in terms of taxing bodies.
“Some of them are now getting more money than they need, and I think they should be looked at,” he said.
Fitzmorris is also a big proponent of having the homestead exemption doubled in the state, which would be a huge tax saver to thousands of residents. Additionally, he believes the more than a dozen different fire departments, which all have their own millage, could easily find a way to be more efficient and save taxpayer money.
“All together they receive over $80 million a year in tax money,” he said. “I believe we should have a consolidation of all the departments, and I think we could still have great fire protection, but not needing $80 million a year to do it.”
Fitzmorris said that since he has been in office, he has followed several guiding principles he learned from his parents.
“Always do the right thing for the right reason, and don’t do something for one person and not the others,” he said. “A key to our success and improvement starts with our great employees, and our commitment to be transparent in all we do.
“That is something that will not change as long as I am in office,” he added.
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