ROCKLAND, Maine — The property taxes the city assessed on a local church were fair, the city’s board of assessment and review voted unanimously Monday night.
“This is what we wanted; don’t get upset,” said Michael Leonard to a group of Aldersgate United Methodist Church members after the 4-0 vote.
Leonard would not elaborate, as the church’s attorney asked the members not to talk about the situation because the church is suing the city over the tax assessment.
Last year the city assessed the church’s 1,600-square-foot parsonage on a 1.6-acre piece of land at $246,700 and charged it $4,633 in taxes. The church recently sold that parsonage for $145,000.
“The property was substantially overvalued,” argued Mike Lane, the treasurer of the church.
Lane said the fact that the property sold for about $100,000 less than the city said it was worth was enough of a reason to believe the church was overtaxed. Had the church’s property been assessed at $145,000 instead of $246,700, it would have been charged about $2,723 in taxes instead of $4,633.
The city’s attorney, Kevin Beal, rebutted that by saying that the city has certain ways of assessing to make sure similar properties are valued similarly — which is different than market value. Beal also called the church’s sale of the property a distress sale, and thus the sale price was not necessarily its true value.
Lane said this was untrue and the church is in good financial condition. The church only sold the property because no one was using it, nor had anyone used it since 2010, Lane said.
The city had already denied the church a tax abatement. Monday night’s meeting was an appeal of that decision, which was ultimately denied. Now the church can go to the superior court if it wants to further appeal the taxes, said Leslie Mulhearn, the Rockland Board of Assessment Review’s chair.
Unless the church is getting free legal counsel this make no sense. Besides it looks like a $246,000 property to me. Who knows how the sale was made? Maybe the buyer made a big contribution to the church so they could write it off.
I thought so too, but after doing a little research it seems the picture BDN has included with the article is a picture of the actual church and not the parsonage which the article is about.
their is an out right attack on churches in this country this is totally illegal and the city will lose big time
Keep drinking the kool-aid.
…maybe he will if you stop smoking what you’re smoking…
I don’t smoke but thanks for your concern.
Kevin, stop with the comments – we all know your a bible beliving church attender – and that is great!
Kevin? I never would assume that of Kevin.
Don’t ever assume – when it comes to God working in someones life.
How about your god go work in the lives of all those starving children. I have food and clean water to drink. I’m not going to starve to death like so many children are as I type this. By the end of the day thousands of children will have starved to death and yet your god does nothing to prevent it. All powerful and all knowing my @ss.
First of all Kevin – it God not god. I can’t say what others are doing for starving children – but I can say that I currently feed about 120 children a day breakfast and lunch and provide many clothes for these poor children. What have you done today?
It is only through Gods power and wisdom that I have been blessed to do this. Kevin you and I both know – you know the answer to these questions, you just need to move beyond where you are at and look at what you can do.
I think you have me confussed with someone else.
Sorry kevin, I do have the right person – it was great seeing you read your bible again.
Well some of us atheist, not all but some do study the bible. There still is no god, no heaven, no devil or hell. I stopped having imaginary friends many years ago.
So the people you talk to, that you have never met on here “imaginary” come on Kevin you knoe better then that.
How is it illegal? Do we grant special laws for churches? Shouldn’t the separation of church and state not work both ways? The church itself was not the property being taxed, it was the rental property/home they owned.
The State assessor’s office recommends to all towns and cities that any church property used primarily for worship not be assessed property tax. Since parsonages, rectories, and other buildings are not generally and usually used for worship purposes the State recommends that they be assessed for property tax.
A recommendation from the assessors office is hardly “law”. In this case the parsonage was being used as a rental property, not the pastors home. Regardless of the issue in Rockland, I think all churches should pay their fair share, they use services and increase traffic.
I’m sick of subsidizing churches with my tax dollars.Churches need to be heavily taxed on every part of their building and property.They hog the best land in town and produce nothing of value.
no they won’t.
If there really were an “out right [sic] attack on churches in this country” (which there isn’t), it would be more in the nature of a counterattack. Not just in this country but worldwide, such a reckoning is long overdue.
Property values have dropped lke a rock for everybody…The fact that some towns and cities haven’t followed suit with their assessments is criminal…
Not so. At least to the blanket statement of “everybody” and “like a rock”. I many towns on the coast the values continued to rise in 08/09 and the hit a plateau. They are starting to show a minor drop this year on only some of the properties. At least that is what I am seeing. Churches themselves are tax exempt; not the rectory/parsonage ($20,000 exemption only) or other buildings.
OK, lower the assessments because of a declining market, but then they’ll just have to raise the mil rate. For most properties it would just be a wash.
Yep, you can play smoke and mirrors with assessments and mill rates all day long. Towns still have to fund the budget which makes the tax.
Property value may have dropped but the cost of operating towns and cities has not. In fact the largest cost is gernerated by the schools. The schools have become more expensive to operate for the local communities that they serve, in that the funds from the Fed and State have been reduced. Not the unfunded mandates that cost the local tax payers.
Churches should have to pay property taxes………as well as all these non-profit agencies making money. Charlotte White Center has buildings all over Piscataquis and Somerset Counties. It’s only fair for them to pay their share of property taxes. Why should I have to pay more in property taxes because they don’t have too.
The article is not about exemption from taxes. The church agrees it should pay taxes, the question is how much. It’s a real estate issue, not an exemption issue.
They didn’t agree to pay at first, this is their “losing” fall back position.
You’re right, it is a real estate one. Funny how they forget to “Give unto Ceaser what is Ceaser’s” though when they think they are being ripped off by Ceaser. They aren’t alone though, a lot of people think Ceaser is ripping them off.
It’s Caesar not Ceaser. I like how people who don’t know anything about scripture try to quote it.
Why are churches allowed tax exemption? Look at their finances. The Catholic Church has billions of dollars from church goers, property, art and other investments yet pays no taxes.
You clearly didn’t read the article. The church DOES pay taxes. The conflict is about the value of their property.
The Catholic Church is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. This means it is exempt from corporate income and property taxes. However, the Catholic Church must pay taxes on unrelated business income from any non-religious activities. Individuals (e.g., priests, deacons) do pay regular income taxes.
Tax a church? Must be that I’ve been in Mass too long. Those plus all hospitals and college/universities haven’t paid property taxes here since, well, Christ was a child. But since they get police, fire and roads, they pay a voluntary fee (the amount decided by the institution). Of course that’s all Boston has and they’re now squawking about all the ‘lost revenue’!
This is not about tax on a church, it’s tax on a parsonage.
it’s a church owned property
It doesn’t matter – see my post regarding Maine statute above.
SO what prevents them from buying up properties and renting them? All they have to do is put the money into their coffers and claim non-profit tax exempt status? This law prevent churches from taking advantage of the community any more than they already do.
Change it to a mosque and let’s see you guys change your opinion about taxing them, lol
Only the church building itself is exempt from property taxes. Housing for clergy or anyone else is not.
It’s considered to be the same thing here. The Catholic rectories, priest housing and schools, Protestant parsonages, all church property are treated the same way.
colleges/universities? really? with all the money they rape from students and the government colleges/universities should be paying steep taxes.
Yup! And all the hospitals, too (and lord knows we have those)!
Most hospitals operate as tax-exempt entities and in return provide free or low cost care.
That may be in the wink wink agreement. They are only expected to pay a voluntary “in kind’ payment. Free care is the reason we’re charged $3 aspirin in the hospitals.
It looks more like the City (or someone)has an interest on this property. This article coupled with a more than $2000.00 tax increase looks less like a fair market tax and morel like an effort to force eviction through taxation. Most properties owned by Churches are tax exempt, a tax lawyer would be of value here.
Actually, Maine law is clear – only the actual church building and its contents and a parsonage used by a church employee are exempt from property taxes (36 MRSA §652.G.) – the surrounding land is not. Traditionally, most towns have voluntarily exempted the entire church property.
With these towns now strapped for cash, they are looking at all possible revenue streams.
The towns and the State will not do anything about the over taxed value anywhere. The towns blame the State and the State knows what will happen if things are valued as they should be. The budgets would be cut by a third at least and the select few who run things couldn’t spend money like it grows on trees. Hard to vote them out when the terms are so different and so many people have given up fighting the governments by voting.
I dont’ think churches should be tax exempt for ANY reason for any taxes. Nor should any donations to a tax exempt business/property be tax deductible to the donor…
Did you read the article? Clearly not, because you’re way off topic. The church agrees to pay property taxes. The disagreement is about how much they were assessed for.
Again, we’re saying they should pay tax on all their property, not just this. They do not in fact pay taxes for the church itself or the property it sits directly on. On top of this, you missed the past 6 months or more of this church fighting to have to pay at all.
It is time churches all paid taxes to set an example of good citizenship. Then take a look at all other non-profits. Has to start somewhere and what better place?
Pay your taxes.
Reading from a previous BDN article listed below, the entire church complex is on a sprawling 14 acre site overlooking the lake. It goes on to mention the church only has 30 members. Sure seems like an elaborate compound for so few members to support.
I want to buy the photo….LOL
Just because a piece sells for less than its taxable value is the free market at work.If I bring something to sell to a pawnshop and they offer me $500 and I say “no,I paid $1000″that isn’t the new buyers problem.His job is to buy low,sell high.Mine is to get a fair price.If I overpaid,too bad.
If the church or parsonage was burglarized would local law enforcement be called?
Where does the church dump its trash?
If the church or parsonage caught fire would Rockland’s fire department respond?
I have never understood how churches believe they can ride free on other people’s dime.
Pay your taxes you deadbeats, or sell your property and move away.
Let’s clear up a few things: Our church pays to have for our dumpster placement and dumping. We also provide a meeting place for many local non profit organizations at no charge. We also have on occasion rented one of our larger rooms to the state for one of their meetings. Central located with handicap accessibility and good parking. The state “business” is something we don’t per sue since they take about 45 days to pay their bill. Never mind that the utility bills arrive and need to be paid sooner than that. In addition we have to maintain our building and do repairs. It sometimes get difficult to host some of these groups since “no one” seems to be responsible enough to turn off the lights, close windows or lock the door on they way out. Our churches pays for own own sewer, water and soon a storm water abatement fee. Many churches are not just a house of worship but a local community center as well.
Everybody has to maintain their property, pay insurance, and utility bills.
It’s time for all non-profits to start paying at least a portion of the local property taxes.
Apparently you missed my point. I was answering Mark about paying our own expenses. However, the many non-profits that are supported by the church out ways any tax. Many of these 0rganizations don’t have a zero based budget, they have a zero budget. Here again just like sales tax on internet sales a major change would need to be instituted. Also a change here would be precedent for church taxing elsewhere.
It is hard to respond (seriously) to someone who writes “out ways” in place of out weighs, or who spells pursue “per sue” but let’s have a go.
Your dumpster is dumped in a landfill (paid for by taxpayers) Your utilities come down a right-of-way paid for and maintained by taxpayers. Your buildings are protected by taxpayers who maintain Police, fire, and public maintenance workers.
As a citizen of the State of Maine, I do not like being forced to provide charity for folks who fail to pay their fair share. It is not my problem that you can not get your members to be more responsible (and turn out lights and lock doors) That is your problem. As I said before churches (and other non-profits) who pay no taxes are deadbeats, and should be treated as such.
This church is opposite Chickawaukee Lake and has a beautiful view. Even in today’s real estate market, a valuation of 145,000 is ridiculous.
With the salaries that some our highest paid hospital chiefs take home -the churches seem somewhat less irritating. However- if one took a hard look-just like the heads of hospitals-there is huge disparity in compensation for pastors around the state.A few are driving very nice new cars while some church members struggle to buy groceries. Sitting in a tax free office earning well over 300k a year is a real stretch from the original idea of making medical facilities tax excempt.
What, I never heard of any Church in the USA having to pay taxes.
They sold the facility.
Churches in New York City pay a “service fee” for the services they use. This is (dollar for dollar) assessed in the same way as property tax. St Patrick’s pays almost a million dollars a year.
Belfast over taxes as well.