Hazelden Foundation v. Yamhill County Assessor

21 Or. Tax 245
Oregon Tax Court·Decided August 30, 2013·No. TC 5030·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

No. 32 August 30, 2013 245

IN THE OREGON TAX COURT

REGULAR DIVISION

HAZELDEN FOUNDATION,

Plaintiff,

v.

YAMHILL COUNTY ASSESSOR

and Department of Revenue, Defendants. (TC 5030)

Plaintiff (taxpayer) appealed from a decision of Defendant Yamhill County Assessor (the county) as to the tax exemption status of its property in Yamhill County. Taxpayer argued that its property was exempt due to the fact it was used in taxpayer’s activities, which it considered to be charitable under ORS 307.130. The county asserted that taxpayer did not meet the criteria of a charitable institution under the requirements of the statute, specifically because taxpayer’s work did not incorporate the required component of “gift or giving” recognized in the case law of Oregon courts concerning exemption for property owned by charitable institutions. Following trial the court found that while taxpayer’s activities met some of the factors of a qualifying charitable institution, other crucial factors, particularly taxpayer’s tiered payment structure and taxpayer’s decision to not accept payment from government insurance programs, meant that taxpayer’s doors could not be considered open to rich and poor alike, therefore taxpayer could not be considered a charitable institution pursuant to the requirements of ORS 307.130.

Trial was held June 25, 2012, in the courtroom of the Oregon Tax Court, Salem.

Dan Eller, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt PC, Portland, argued the cause for Plaintiff (taxpayer).

Darren Weirnick, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Salem, and Christian F. Boenisch, Yamhill County Counsel, McMinnville, argued the cause for Defendants Department of Revenue (the department) and Yamhill County Assessor (the county).

Decision for Defendants rendered August 30, 2013.

HENRY C. BREITHAUPT, Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This case comes before the court for decision following a trial in the Regular Division. Plaintiff (taxpayer)

246 Hazelden Foundation v. Yamhill County Assessor

contends that certain real property and certain personal property owned by taxpayer and located in Yamhill County was exempt under ORS 307.130 during the 2010-11 tax year.1 Taxpayer argues that it was, and is, a charitable institution and the property in question was actually and exclusively used in the charitable work of taxpayer. Defendants Yamhill County Assessor and the Department of Revenue (collectively referred to in this opinion as “the county”) concede that taxpayer met some of the characteristics of a charitable institution, but that its activities lacked the required element of “gift or giving” found in Oregon case law concerning ORS 307.130. The county also contends that taxpayer has failed to carry the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that some of the real property at issue in this case was actually and exclusively used in the charitable work of taxpayer during the tax year at issue. The tax year at issue is 2010-11.

This opinion should be read in context with this court’s decision in Serenity Lane, Inc. v. Lane County Assessor, 21 OTR 229 (2013).

II. FACTS

Taxpayer is an IRC section 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of the state of Minnesota.2 For many years a wholly-owned subsidiary of taxpayer operated an addiction treatment facility in the city of Newberg in Yamhill County. In 2010, taxpayer merged with its subsidiary and assumed direct ownership of the treatment facility.

Taxpayer’s bylaws state that it is organized to provide “high quality, affordable rehabilitation, education, prevention and professional services and publications in chemical dependency and related disorders.” Taxpayer operates the facility as part of that mission. Taxpayer is known for serving individuals who are employed as professionals, such as doctors and lawyers. During the 2010-11 tax year, about 50 percent of taxpayer’s patients were professionals ; the remaining 50 percent came from non-professional backgrounds.

1 All references to the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) are to the 2009 edition.

2 All references to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) are to the 2008 edition.

Cite as 21 OTR 245 (2013) 247

Taxpayer’s primary focus is on inpatient residential treatment of individuals recovering from substance addiction . Taxpayer also has a publishing subsidiary and a graduate school that offers a master’s degree in addiction counseling , though it is not clear from the record to what extent the operations of those entities interacted with the operations of taxpayer’s treatment facility during the tax year at issue.

Taxpayer maintains in its briefing that it charges the market rate for the treatment that it provides. The record indicates that this can be a very substantial sum: stipulated exhibits suggest that $27,000 is representative of what taxpayer would charge an average patient for 28-day residential treatment. Taxpayer has a “patient aid” program in place to assist patients who do not have the resources to pay the full price of treatment. Taxpayer’s patient aid program has two primary components. First, taxpayer provides need-based discounts on the price of treatment to help calibrate the amount taxpayer charges any given patient to the financial resources available to the patient. This calibration works on the basis of 10 “tiers,” with each tier representing an additional 10 percent discount on the nominal price of treatment. The tiers correspond with a scale of point scores on a worksheet that is used by taxpayer’s employees to evaluate the financial resources available to a given individual. This worksheet includes factors such as household income, number of dependents, net worth, and debt-to-income ratio. In each category, more points are allocated to those whose circumstances suggest a greater need for assistance. The higher an individual’s overall score, the greater the discount on treatment offered to that individual. In its response to a request for admissions from the county, taxpayer stated that it normally caps the discount offered at 60 percent off its normal rates but approves additional discounts—in some instances up to 100 percent—on a case-by-case basis. The record does not contain detailed information regarding the criteria used in evaluating patients that would require a greater than 60 percent discount to afford treatment.

In addition, during the tax years at issue taxpayer accepted a limited number of patients that had been referred to taxpayer by the Yamhill County Department of Health 248 Hazelden Foundation v. Yamhill County Assessor

and Human Services (Yamhill County HHS) free of charge. Taxpayer formalized this arrangement with Yamhill County HHS in September of 2010 by agreeing to treat one patient from Yamhill County’s chemical dependency program per calendar quarter (four per calendar year). In actual practice taxpayer treated one such patient in 2009, three such patients in 2010, and five in 2011. As was mentioned above, taxpayer accepted other patients free of charge during the tax years at issue in addition to those referred by Yamhill County HHS. However, the Yamhill County HHS patients made up the large majority of the patients in either residential or extended treatment that were given free care by taxpayer.3 During the tax years at issue taxpayer did not admit any patients for whom federal or state government insurance was used to pay for service in whole or in part.

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Hazelden Foundation v. Yamhill County Assessor, 21 Or. Tax 245 (Or. Super. Ct. 2013).

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