Damakant Jayshi
The Finance Committee on Tuesday accepted the recommendation from the city assessor to disallow requests for recovery of alleged “unlawful tax” from two organizations which had petitioned the committee, claiming they were wrongly charged and want their money back.
The committee voted unanimously to reject the claim of “unlawful tax” from the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum for the recovery of nearly $17,500 and another claim from the Vistas at Greenwood Hills for a recovery of nearly $9,500.
Chair Lisa Rasmussen said they always seek the counsel of the city assessor and the city attorney on what action they should take and they go with their recommendations most times unless there is a known error on the part of the assessment.
“The procedure is that we they typically decline these and that allows another objection process to take place,” Rasmussen said. The City Council will take final look at this.
Both groups have the right to ask a local court to help them get the tax money back within 90 days after the city has made its final decision.
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum had written to the City Clerk’s office saying the organization is nonprofit and thus exempt/
“I believe the City Assessor should have applied a ‘Readying Rule’ as part of his assessment,” Museum Director Matt Foss wrote in a letter dated Jan. 30, a day after the museum paid the property tax. The “Readying Rule” states that in interpreting the exemption statute, the assessor should consider that “the property is being developed to further its exempt purpose.”
In his response to that letter, City Assessor Richard Rubow, citing a 2004 case law, said the “Readying Rule” does not apply to buildings under construction.
During the brief discussion on Tuesday, Rubow told the committee that the organization was given a building permit in 2022. That same year, the museum combined the two vacant parcels into a new parcel.
“That itself triggers the property to become taxable on the assessment roll unless the taxpayer files an exemption request,” Rubow said. “No exemption request was filed. So therefore, the assessment is legit.”
Replying to Rasmussen’s question whether the entity can request for exemption again, the city assessor said they can do so by following the procedure.
“Every year the exemptions are due on March 1 and they have that ability every year,” Rubow said.
As for the claim from Vistas at Greenwood Hills, a housing project of Green Acres at Greenwood Hills LLC, Rasmussen said there is history about the nature of the roads on the property. She said the city has had some back and forth for a while with the owner whether the roads are public or private.
Rubow reiterated his recommendation to disallow the “unlawful tax” recovery request from the company.
The committee unanimously rejected the claims from both entities.
