Tax exemption requests heard

The Board of Equalization met on Tuesday, Feb. 7, for their regularly scheduled bi-monthly meeting. Scheduled for that meeting was a public hearing and discussion of Permissive Exemption Applications for both the Kimball County Hospital administrative building at 301 South Howard and for the Goodhand Theater, located at 226 South Chestnut.

According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, “all property in the State of Nebraska is subject to property tax, unless an exemption is mandated or permitted by the Nebraska Constitution or by legislation.”

Permissive exemptions are allowed for certain categories, including, “property owned by educational, religious, charitable, or cemetery organizations, or any organization for the exclusive benefit of any such educational, religious, charitable or cemetery purposes, and used exclusively for those purposes.”

The board first heard from Melissa Perante, Jim O’Brien and Ken Hunter concerning the old West Elementary building which the hospital now owns.

O’Brien explained that the building houses both offices and the Head Start program. Hunter added that the building also houses the food pantry and offers rooms to the public free of charge, including use by churches and organizations. Hunter told the board, “It appears to me that we should probably be exempt.”

The board closed the public hearing and received the approval recommendation from Kimball County Assessor, Sherry Winstrom. The board unanimously approved to grant the Permissive Tax Exemption status for Kimball Health Services administrative building at 301 S. Howard.

The board then opened a public hearing to hear comments for a Permissive Exemption Application, filed by Friends of the Goodhand (FOG) for the theater.

Jo Caskey, as Secretary/Treasurer of FOG, explained that FOG was a 501(c)(3) organization. According to the IRS, “an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual.” These organizations are typically referred to as a “charitable organization.” Legal council for the board explained that FOG’s 501(c)(3) status actually held no significance in whether or not the organization qualified for a permissive tax exemption.

Although FOG does operate the theater as a non-profit, offering movies for free to the public, it is not currently operating as a public gathering place and is only open a few days a month. According to the State of Nebraska’s guidelines, the property must be used “exclusively” for charitable endeavors.

Although the board wanted to support FOG, after county staff sought advice from the State of Nebraska, the state advised that the theater did not fall within the guidelines.

After hearing all comments, the board closed the hearing on the theater. Winstrom’s recommendation to deny the application from exemption for Friends of the Goodhand was upheld by the board.

The next meeting of the Board of Equalization will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 8:30 a.m. in the Commissioner’s room of the Kimball court house.