New Jersey Ass'n of School Business Officials, Inc. v. Hamilton Township

22 N.J. Tax 467
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedAugust 8, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 22 N.J. Tax 467 (New Jersey Ass'n of School Business Officials, Inc. v. Hamilton Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Jersey Ass'n of School Business Officials, Inc. v. Hamilton Township, 22 N.J. Tax 467 (N.J. Super. Ct. 2005).

Opinion

MENYUK, J.T.C.

Plaintiff appeals from the judgment of the Mercer County Board of Taxation (the “County Board”) denying it an exemption from local property taxation for tax year 2003. Plaintiff originally sought exemption on the grounds that the subject property is used for educational or charitable purposes or for the moral and mental improvement of men, women and children. Plaintiff alternatively contested the valuation of the property. At trial, the plaintiff withdrew all claims except for exemption based on plaintiff’s use of the property in its work for the moral and mental improvement of men, women and children. N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.6. For the following reasons, I conclude that the property is not qualified for exemption.

The subject property, designated as Block 2597.01, Lot 8.01, on the tax map of Hamilton Township, consists of a condominium unit of approximately 4100 square feet in a building of approximately 23,000 square feet, located on about two and one half acres of land. Plaintiff also owns a twenty-two percent undivided interest in the condominium’s common areas. The assessment, as affirmed by the County Board, is as follows:

Land $ 96,000

Improvements $472,600

Total $568,600

Plaintiff acquired the propex'ty by deed dated March 7, 2002 and occupied it shox’tly thereafter. Plaintiff filed an initial statement [470]*470claiming exemption from local property taxes pursuant to N.J.S.A 54:4-4.4 on or about October 23, 2002. Defendant’s assessor denied the claim for exemption on the ground that the use of the subject was “not a qualified exempt use.” The County Board issued a judgment on June 19, 2003, denying an exemption on the subject property, and an appeal was timely filed with this court pursuant to N.J.S.A 54:51A-1(a).

The subject has a reception area, a workroom with copy and fax machines that is also used for storage, a kitchen, a storage room, six or seven offices and a conference room seating approximately sixty persons. Plaintiff uses the subject as its administrative offices, for its own meetings and as a place to conduct educational programs described in more detail below. Plaintiff occasionally permits other organizations to use its conference room. Although plaintiff has a fee schedule for use of its facilities by outside organizations, plaintiffs executive director, Edward Meglis, Jr., testified that the fee is rarely collected. He stated that the property has been used for meetings by the county school business administrators’ associations, by the New Jersey Department of Education, by the Division of Purchasing, by the Abbott school districts and similar groups. Mr. Meglis believed that the New Jersey Propane Society was the only for profit group that had used plaintiff’s facilities.

Plaintiff was incorporated in 1987 as a New Jersey not-for-profit corporation. It is qualified as exempt from federal income taxation pursuant to I.R.C. § 503(c)(3). It has also been issued an exempt organization certificate by the New Jersey Division of Taxation under the Sales and Use Tax Act. See N.J.S.A 54:32B-9(b) (exempting certain sales by or to a corporation organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary or educational purposes).

Plaintiffs principal area of concern is persons employed by school districts throughout the state who function in various business and financial, as opposed to instructional areas. Plaintiff has three categories of dues-paying members. The first, called “active members,” consists mainly of chief school financial officers [471]*471and school business administrators, although other supervisory-persons working in areas of school business administration, such as transportation supervisors and building and grounds supervisors, may also join as active members. Dues for active members are one percent of the member’s salary per year, with a “cap” of $900. There were approximately 665 active members during the period 2003-2004, which, Mr. Meglis testified, was not substantially different than for the prior year. According to plaintiff’s bylaws, of the three categories of dues-paying members, only active members are entitled to vote.1

Associate education members may be anyone interested in the profession of school business administration, such as college students, but are more typically school district support staff and other school district personnel that would report to a chief school financial officer or school business administrator. Associate education members include intermediate supervisory personnel, such as transportation supervisors and building and grounds supervisors, as well as secretaries to chief school financial officers and to school business administrators. Dues for associate education members are $150 a year. There were approximately ninety-five associate members during 2003-2004.

The last category of dues-paying membership is “associate business members,” which are for profit businesses that provide goods and services to school districts. According to Mr. Meglis, by virtue of their membership in plaintiff, these businesses have the opportunity to network with school business administrators and others making purchasing decisions for their school districts. There were approximately 260 associate business members during 2002-2003, each of which paid dues of $350 per year.

Plaintiffs certificate of incorporation sets forth the following corporate purposes:

a. To engage exclusively as an organization to advance educational, scientific, and charitable endeavors within the meaning of section 501(c)(8) of the Internal [472]*472Revenue Code of 1954 (or corresponding provisions of any subsequent federal tax laws).
b. To advance education at the elementary, secondary, college, and post-graduate levels.
c. To better enable the members and the general public to conduct the management of schools at all levels in the planning, organizing, coordinating, and improvement thereof for the benefit of the public attendance and the community.
d. To provide for the public findings of such research and to make available thereto and to conduct field research experiments in the aforesaid areas for the benefit of those attending schools and the public in general.
e. To engage in a program of professional education for persons carrying on activities in the field of school administration.
f. To protect the public by promoting the highest standards of ethical conduct by persons carrying on activities in the field of school administration.

Plaintiffs bylaws identify corporate purposes that are similar, but not identical to those set out in the certificate of incorporation:

a. To establish and promulgate the highest standards of ethics and efficiency in business methods and practices for schools, and to make these freely available to its members and the interested public.
b. To engage in a program of education for and improvement of persons carrying on activities in the field of school business administration for the benefit of schools and school systems.
c.

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Bluebook (online)
22 N.J. Tax 467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-jersey-assn-of-school-business-officials-inc-v-hamilton-township-njtaxct-2005.