(The Center Square) – Shreveport is considering amending its code to make real estate seized for unpaid property taxes more appealing to buyers and, in turn, easier to sell.
“I think that the whole goal would be to make these marketable pieces of property that investors could come in – say in Allendale or Queensborough – and buy large tracts of land, and be able to have the title where a bank would be willing to loan the money,” said City Council member Grayson Boucher on Monday during an administrative meeting. “So as long as we’re moving towards that, I think it’s a good thing.”
The new ordinance would allow the city’s “adjudicated property charges” to be transferred into tax lien certificates and authorize donations of those certificates to redevelopment authorities. Unpaid property taxes are typically the “charges” attached to a property that’s been taken over by a municipality.
It provides more flexibility and tools to deal with tax-delinquent homes and land. The council will vote on final approval at its regular meeting this week.
The Shreveport Implementation and Redevelopment Authority is the city’s special redevelopment entity used to manage adjudicated and blighted or abandoned properties. Many of the city’s core neighborhoods have an abundance of deteriorating and abandoned homes.
“This one is one of those that we shall see how this plays out,” said Tom Dark, the city’s chief administrator. “There are bills in the Legislature that would completely undo the tax lien certificate process. Mr. McNeely is not sure that’s going to pass. There are others that modify it, but assuming this stays in one form or the other, this would be a way to take advantage of the new state law.”
The state added provisions to state law that took effect in 2026 for converting adjudicated property to tax lien certificates.
Mayor Tom Arceneaux said the process will allow properties to be returned to productive use more quickly.
“And likely get it back into commerce with an insurable title,” he said. “That’s the biggest issue we have with tax titles, is the insurability of those because they are fraught with errors most of the time. We think it will enable us to get some property back into commerce that we could not get into commerce quickly.”
The code update also establishes clear procedures for selling, donating or managing these properties, including steps like filing the lien in mortgage records and notifying interested parties.
