Though every parish and county has an assessor, ours here in Acadia Parish deserves special recognition! James, or Jimbo as he is more commonly known, Petitjean has been the Acadia Parish Assessor since 2013. He is not, by any means a stranger to public office. A lifelong resident of Rayne, he was appointed Rayne’s first recreation director in 1983. Jimbo spent 12 years in the position which yielded a robust recreation department for the City of Rayne. In 1994 he was elected as Mayor of Rayne and served in that capacity for 18 years. After serving the city he still calls home for 30 years in various capacities, Jimbo decided to extend his service to the rest of the parish. He announced that he was going to run for parish assessor in 2011, and he was elected the following year, assuming his duties on January 1st, 2013
Once sworn in, Petitjean immediately started to make some much-needed upgrades to the Acadia Parish Assessor’s office. He facilitated the first major office renovation in over 50 years at the parish courthouse, making it more accommodating for residents and professionals. His staff has now achieved a 90% rate of receiving the designation of “Certified Louisiana Deputy Assessor,” setting the standard for future assessors. And when he announced his candidacy, he said that he was going to “incorporate modern technology that will increase the level of transparency that is currently lacking. Quick access to all information is vital to the operation of this office, and we will strive to make this process much easier, more user friendly and always readily available to the public.” He certainly held up to his promise, also implementing a mapping system that the parish utilizes through a partnership with C.H. Fenstermaker and Associates, a global leader in GIS technologies.
Their website is easy to utilize, and the multitude of updates and additions that Petitjean and his staff have instituted have definitely made a major impact on how residents understand the functions of the Assessor. The Assessor serves a very important purpose for all citizens in the parish. Assessors identify all property (business, real estate, oil and gas, etc.), list them, and value them for ad valorem taxation purposes. By accessing the Acadia Parish Assessor’s website, you can easily find whatever service you are looking for; and if not, you can easily find their contact information! Contained on the website is a property tax estimator, search tools for the history of a specific property, and a map of all of Acadia Parish and its parcels. You can also find a link to the most current addition, an application for Homestead Exemption. All of this is easily seen and found, making the Acadia Parish Assessor’s website one of the most useful in Louisiana.
We at the Acadia Parish Chamber thank Jimbo Petitjean and his team for their years of service to this parish and its citizens! Thank you for all the hard work that you have done to make it easier for all of us living in the parish to find the information we need about our property! With partners like you in government we can build a better community for all businesses.
