PORT ALLEN — Port Allen's city administrator cannot run for mayor because of a property tax break he enjoys on a Plaquemine home he owns with his wife, a judge ruled Wednesday.

District Judge Tonya S. Lurry ordered Lance Joseph's name stricken from the Nov. 5 ballot. Two others remain in the race.

State law requires mayors to be residents of the cities they run, and that they have established residency for at least a year. Joseph says he lives in Port Allen with his father, but a city resident challenged his candidacy on grounds that Joseph actually lives 14 miles away. 

Iberville Parish officials say they automatically granted Joseph and his wife a homestead exemption on their property taxes more than a decade ago after the couple built a home on Island Drive near Bayou Plaquemine.

Joseph told WBRZ last week he didn't know how the exemption was added, and that he hadn't applied for it. The assessor's office told WBRZ that it has notified Joseph about the tax break regularly and given him the option to remove it. 

In state election law, homestead exemptions are presumed to be proof of residency. 

Terecita Pattan, who also works at City Hall as a human resources officer is running for mayor as an independent, and Clyde Robertson Sr. is running as a Democrat. 

The current mayor, Richard Lee III, is retiring when his term expires at the end of the year.