Christian Chesson, a candidate for Calcasieu district attorney, said that a homestead exemption he claims in Cameron Parish is the result of a mistake by the Cameron Parish Tax Assessor’s Office.

Chesson has claimed the exemption in Cameron Parish since 2008, although he has lived in Calcasieu Parish for much of that time. He is running against incumbent John DeRosier in the Nov. 4 election.

Continuing the exemption is an “error on the part of the Cameron Parish Assessor’s Office,” Chesson’s campaign said in a news release. He released the statement after questions about his eligibility to run for office in Calcasieu circulated on social media, Chesson said.

In an interview with the American Press on Thursday, Chesson said he believed the exemption ended when he registered to vote in Calcasieu in 2011. He said he lived in Cameron for about six months and that he filed the exemption in Cameron on the advice of others.

A person may have more than one residence, but homestead exemptions are to be claimed on a person’s primary residence, the tax assessors in Cameron and Calcasieu said. A homestead exemption is allowed on up to $7,500 of a primary residence’s assessed value.

“You can own multiple tracts of property in the same parish, or in multiple parishes or in multiple states, but you’re supposed to file homestead on your primary residence,” Calcasieu assessor Wendy Curphy Aguillard said. “Where you live, where you receive your mail, where you vote, all those things are usually things that have to do with your primary residence.”

Any questions of Chesson’s residency, related to his eligibility to run for district attorney, would be up to a court to decide, Calcasieu Clerk of Court Lynn Jones said.

Chesson lives in a Lake Charles home owned by his father — the family home he grew up in — while his father lives in Houston in a home owned by Chesson’s corporation, he said. Essentially, the deal is a “house swap,” Chesson said. His father claims a homestead exemption on the Lake Charles home in which Chesson lives, records with the Calcasieu assessor’s office show.

“I also have several real estate investments — most of them commercial — and pay my taxes, all of which is also a public record,” Chesson said in the news release. “The home in which I have resided with my family in recent years is owned by my father, who lives in a property I own in Texas; neither of us claims a homestead exemption on those properties.”

Chesson filed for a homestead exemption in Cameron in 2008. He also registered to vote in Cameron in 2008, then registered to vote in Calcasieu Parish in 2011, Calcasieu Registrar of Voters Angie Quienalty said. A person must be registered to vote in the same parish, they are homesteaded, she said.

Chesson said he filed for a homestead exemption in Cameron after moving from a home in which he owned and resided in Lake Charles.

Chesson moved into the home in which he currently lives, “prior to Rita,” he said.

Between Hurricanes Rita and Ike, he lived in Cameron for about six months, he said.

“I moved that down there when I sold my home and at some point I registered to vote down there, then I was advised by people, prior to running the race, that you probably need to make sure your residency is established in Calcasieu, even though, really now I look at it, I was already residing here,” Chesson said.

Chesson said he believed that when he registered to vote in Calcasieu in October 2011 that his homestead exemption in Cameron would be canceled.

“I honestly thought that when I did that, I lost my homestead exemption,” Chesson said. “I didn’t think I had one anymore, until I heard the rumors on Facebook.”

That’s not an uncommon assumption, Cameron Tax Assessor Mona Kelley said.

Under the advisement of others and in an effort to ensure his residency could not be challenged, Chesson went to the Cameron Tax Assessor’s Office in 2011, he said. The women there told him he would have to take care of the exemption in Calcasieu, he said.

A person must sign a document to have a homestead exemption pulled, Cameron Tax Assessor Mona Kelley said. She said her office does not have a record that he attempted to pull the exemption.

“We like things in writing to protect this office,” Kelley said.

Chesson owns multiple properties in Cameron and Calcasieu, most of those commercial, he said. Others advised him to take the homestead exemption on the Cameron Parish home, he said.

“I couldn’t move my homestead exemption to the house I bought, so they recommended I move it to Cameron,” Chesson said. “I went over there and came back over here, even though I resided here the whole time, so there wouldn’t be a problem with the election.”

Chesson said he will wait until after the election to clear up the situation.

“It seems to me it would be fair that I would able to claim just one little homestead exemption in the state because I’m fortunate enough to be a homeowner like anybody else,” Chesson said. “If that’s an inaccurate assumption, I’m not trying to defraud anybody, I’ll pay whatever taxes are due.

“If it was an oversight, I’m sorry, I look to get it fixed, but I’m not going to worry about it right now.”

Kelley said she has not yet decided how she will proceed, “but I’m not going to handle him any different than I handle anyone else.”

Aguillard said that when the Calcasieu assessor learns that a person may not be living at the home at which they claim a homestead exemption, her office investigates.(Special to the American Press)