Assessment numbers increase in Vermilion Parish

Based on the newly released assessment numbers, things are good in Vermilion Parish.
Vermilion Parish Assessor, Gabe Marceaux, released the overall numbers at a recent police jury meeting.
The numbers show property values in Vermilion Parish are very strong.
Marceaux explained to the jurors that the assessments are broken into three parts.
The first is movable property (like boats, oil rigs, large equipment, tanks).
The second is real property (homes, commercial buildings, land ).
The third is public service property (pipelines, telephone lines, Entergy or Cleco lines).
Comparing 2013 to 2014, Vermilion Parish taxing districts will receive approximately $1 million more in taxes than a year ago because there are $11 million more of assessed value in the parish.
Abbeville, alone, has an increase of $4.5 million in moveable equipment from a year ago. The reason for that is because of all of the large oil field equipment that was parked at the old Fruit of the Loom building on Jan 1. The equipment, alone, brought in an extra $500,000 in taxes for the parish.
Over a 10-year period, from 2004 to 2014, the parish has seen a $148 million increase in assessed values.
While many parts of the nation are losing value on land, homes and businesses, Vermilion Parish has witnessed an increase.
“Vermilion Parish has not seen what the rest of the nation has seen,” said Marceaux. “We have not seen the value decreases in homes and land that we have heard about elsewhere. We have not seen anything here to lead us to believe that values are going down.”
Drive around Vermilion Parish, and it looks like the oil field has just about left the parish. But if you look at the assessed values for movable properties over the last 10 years, the numbers show different.
In 2004, the parish had $150 million assessed value of movable property (counting public service property totals).
This year, the parish has $225 million assessed value of movable equipment in the parish.
That generated nearly $7.5 million more in taxes dollars over a 10-year period in moveables alone.
Another big increase is dealing with real properties such as homes and land.
In 2004, the parish had $136 million assessed value in real property.
With the boom in construction on the northern part of the parish, the 2014 assessed real property value is now $210 million.