Upper Dauphin National Bank v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals

561 A.2d 378, 127 Pa. Commw. 257, 1989 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 474
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 6, 1989
Docket2060 C.D. 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 561 A.2d 378 (Upper Dauphin National Bank v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Upper Dauphin National Bank v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals, 561 A.2d 378, 127 Pa. Commw. 257, 1989 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 474 (Pa. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

McGINLEY, Judge.

Upper Dauphin National Bank, successor to Dauphin Deposit Trust Company, as Trustee under the Will of Howard G. Frederick (Trustee) of the Evelyn G. Frederick Health Center (Health Center), a non-profit ambulatory health care provider, appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County (court of common pleas) on behalf of the Health Center which affirmed a reassessment by the Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals (Board) of a portion of the Health Center and denied the Health Center’s appeal. We affirm.

The Health Center is an institution of purely public charity, owned and operated by the Evelyn G. Frederick Corporation, a non-profit corporation. Since its commencement of operation in 1976, the Health Center’s real estate was declared exempt from real estate taxation. In 1984, the Health Center altered its operations by setting aside approximately one-third of its building space and leasing that space to private health care providers including a dentist, an optometrist and a physical therapist. (Stipulation of Facts, No. 24 and No. 29(a), March 21, 1988, (Stip.) at 7-8.) After a re-examination of the Health Center the Dauphin County Director of Assessment removed approximately one-third of [259]*259the real estate and improvements from tax exempt status and assessed the one-third portion of real estate and improvements for tax purposes, effective January 1, 1985. The Health Center appealed from the assessment and the Board denied the appeal.1 The Health Center next appealed to the court of common pleas and after a trial de novo, the court of common pleas denied the Health Center’s appeal concluding that “the tenant medical service practitioners are the occupiers and users of a portion of the real property and that portion so used is used for their purposes, not for the purposes of the Evelyn G. Frederick Health Center, and is therefore taxable.” (Opinion of the court of common pleas, July 29, 1988, at 4.) The Health Center appeals.

Since the court of common pleas made no findings of fact, those facts having been stipulated, our scope of review is limited to whether the Board abused its discretion or committed an error of law. Barnhart v. Zoning Hearing Board, 49 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 481, 411 A.2d 1266 (1980).

The Health Center argues that pursuant to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Moon Township Appeal (Moon II), 425 Pa. 578, 229 A.2d 890 (1967) it cannot be denied a portion of its real estate tax exemption because it leases a portion of public property to tenants who furnish services which are reasonably necessary to the Health Center’s operation. The Board argues that the Health Center’s reliance on Moon II is misplaced and that the court of common pleas’ decision should be affirmed.

Article 8, Section 2 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides, in pertinent part:

(a) The General Assembly may by law exempt from taxation:
[260]*260(iii) That portion of public property which is actually and regularly used for public purposes;
(v) Institutions of purely public charity, but in the case of any real property tax exemptions only that portion of real property of such institution which is actually and regularly used for the purposes of the institution.

Art. 8, § 2.

Any organization seeking exemption from taxation has the affirmative burden to prove it is entitled to the exemption. Hospital Utilization Project v. Commonwealth, 507 Pa. 1, 487 A.2d 1306 (1985).

Section 204(a)(3) of the General County Assessment Law (Law), Act of May 22, 1933, P.L. 853, as amended, 72 P.S. § 5020-204, provides in pertinent part:

(3) All ... associations and institutions of ... charity ... with the grounds thereto annexed and necessary for the occupancy and enjoyment of the same, founded, endowed and maintained by public or private charity: provided, that the entire revenue derived by the same be applied to the support and to increase the efficiency and facilities thereof, the repair and the necessary increase of grounds and buildings thereof, and for no other purpose;____

72 P.S. § 5020-204.

In Moon II, our state Supreme Court concluded that a hotel, restaurant, newsstand, and a portion of a drug store utilized for the sale of food, and newsstand, which were located in the Greater Pittsburgh Airport terminal building owned by Allegheny County, but which were operated by concessionaires, were exempt from real estate taxation, but the drug store area utilized for the sale of drugs, gifts, novelties and other miscellaneous items, was not tax exempt. Appellant Thrift Drug Company maintained the drug store premises and argued that the entire drugstore premises should have been placed in the tax free status. The Court explained:

[261]*261The pertinent law was explicated in Moon Township Appeal 387 Pa. 144, at 148-149, 127 A.2d 361, at 364 [1956], wherein Mr. Chief Justice Stern speaking for the Court, stated: ‘The legal principles applicable to the situation are entirely clear. Article IX § 1, of the Constitution P.S. permits the General Assembly to exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes. Undoubtedly the portions of the Airport employed in its actual operation—the landing fields, runways, ramps, hangars, ticket offices, waiting rooms for passengers, management offices, control tower, repair shops and the like represent a public use which properly exempts them from taxation; this is conceded by all the parties. There is likewise no question but that property the use of which is reasonably necessary for the efficient operation of the Airport, even though not indispensable or essential thereto, is also entitled to exemption. Nor can such property be denied exemption merely because it is rented out by the Airport and thereby yields a return which serves to reduce expenses, because, where the primary and principal use to which property is put is public, the mere fact that an income is incidentally derived from it does not affect its character as property devoted to a public use: [Citations]. On the other hand, however, there is equally no doubt but that property, even though owned by a body ordinarily tax exempt, is taxable if used by it for commercial purposes, or if rented to a lessee for a purely business enterprise and not a public use; this is true even though the rentals or other proceeds from the property are devoted to the tax exempt activities of the lessor: [Citations].’ (Original emphasis.)

Moon II, 425 Pa. at 581, 229 A.2d at 891.

The Health Center argues that the optometrists, physical therapists, and/or dentists are reasonably necessary to its operation, just as the Supreme Court concluded that the sale of food by the drug store was reasonably necessary. The Health Center argues that, as the Supreme Court explained in Moon II, receipt of fees by tenants using the [262]*262public property, nor the amount of those fees disqualifies the property from tax exemption.

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561 A.2d 378, 127 Pa. Commw. 257, 1989 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/upper-dauphin-national-bank-v-dauphin-county-board-of-assessment-appeals-pacommwct-1989.