Charity and N.Y. Town in a Scrap Over Tax Exemption
April 17, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minute
Officials in Jefferson Township, N.Y., are resisting efforts by an Orthodox Jewish group that runs a national car-donation program to stop paying property taxes on a camp it owns in the area, The Wall Street Journal reports.
New Jersey-based Oorah, a federally registered nonprofit that lists its mission as Orthodox Jewish education and outreach, raises most of its revenue from its Kars 4 Kids program. The organization is the biggest nongovernment taxpayer in Jefferson Township, contributing about $208,000 last year to the town budget.
The fight grew out of failed talks over an Oorah plan to issue $10 million in tax-exempt bonds through the Schoharie County, N.Y., industrial-development corporation for improvements on its two camps in the county. During the negotiations, Oorah offered Jefferson Township an annual $41,000 payment for five years in lieu of property taxes.
Oorah has yet to satisfy local assessors that the camp property “is being used for a tax-exempt charitable purpose,” said Daniel Singletary, a township supervisor. The organization had revenues of $22.4-million in 2010 and reported spending $6.3-million directly on its charity mission, including $3.5-million on the camps.
