Bill Text: NJ A2828 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Clarifies commencement of taxability of portions of certain tax exempt buildings; continues tax exemption for portions of tax exempt buildings used for State mandated preschool and kindergarten purposes.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-06-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee [A2828 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A2828-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN F. MCKEON
District 27 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Clarifies commencement of taxability of portions of certain tax exempt buildings; continues tax exemption for portions of tax exempt buildings used for State mandated preschool and kindergarten purposes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning exemption from property taxation and amending R.S.54:4-3.6.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.54:4-3.6 is amended to read as follows:
54:4-3.6. The following
property shall be exempt from taxation under this chapter: all buildings actually
used for colleges, schools, academies or seminaries, provided that if any
portion of such buildings are leased to profit-making organizations or
otherwise used for purposes which are not themselves exempt from taxation, said
portion shall be subject to taxation and the remaining portion only shall be
exempt; all buildings actually used for historical societies, associations or
exhibitions, when owned by the State, county or any political subdivision
thereof or when located on land owned by an educational institution which
derives its primary support from State revenue; all buildings actually and
exclusively used for public libraries, asylum or schools for feebleminded or
idiotic persons and children; all buildings used exclusively by any association
or corporation formed for the purpose and actually engaged in the work of
preventing cruelty to animals; all buildings actually and exclusively used and
owned by volunteer first-aid squads, which squads are or shall be incorporated
as associations not for pecuniary profit; all buildings actually used in the
work of associations and corporations organized exclusively for the moral and
mental improvement of men, women and children, provided that if any portion of
a building used for that purpose is leased to profit-making organizations or is
otherwise used for purposes which are not themselves exempt from taxation, that
portion shall be subject to taxation and the remaining portion only shall be
exempt; all buildings actually used in the work of associations and
corporations organized exclusively for religious purposes, including religious
worship, or charitable purposes, provided that, for tax year 2007 and
thereafter, if any portion of a building used for [that
purpose] those purposes is leased to a
profit-making organization or is otherwise used for purposes which are not
themselves exempt from taxation, then that portion shall be subject to
taxation, but in no event shall a portion leased to a profit-making
organization but used for an exempt purpose ,
as set forth in this article, be liable for any added or omitted assessments
for property taxes for any prior tax year, and the remaining portion shall
be exempt from taxation, and provided further that if any portion of a building
is used for a different exempt use by an exempt entity, that portion shall also
be
exempt from taxation, and provided further that no building actually used
for religious or charitable purposes shall lose its exempt status on account of
leasing any portion of such a building for preschool or kindergarten programs
for the students of any Abbott district, as defined in section 3 of P.L.1996,
c.138 (C.18A:7F-3) as being required by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott
v. Burke, 153 N.J. 480 (1998), or any preschool or kindergarten program
required for the students of any school district pursuant to section 16 of
P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-16); all buildings actually used in the work of
associations and corporations organized exclusively for hospital purposes,
provided that if any portion of a building used for hospital purposes is leased
to profit-making organizations or otherwise used for purposes which are not
themselves exempt from taxation, that portion shall be subject to taxation and
the remaining portion only shall be exempt; all buildings owned or held by an
association or corporation created for the purpose of holding the title to such
buildings as are actually and exclusively used in the work of two or more
associations or corporations organized exclusively for the moral and mental
improvement of men, women and children; all buildings owned by a corporation
created under or otherwise subject to the provisions of Title 15 of the Revised
Statutes or Title 15A of the New Jersey Statutes and actually and exclusively
used in the work of one or more associations or corporations organized
exclusively for charitable or religious purposes, which associations or
corporations may or may not pay rent for the use of the premises or the
portions of the premises used by them; the buildings, not exceeding two,
actually occupied as a parsonage by the officiating clergymen of any religious
corporation of this State, together with the accessory buildings located on the
same premises; the land whereon any of the buildings hereinbefore mentioned are
erected, and which may be necessary for the fair enjoyment thereof, and which
is devoted to the purposes above mentioned and to no other purpose and does not
exceed five acres in extent; the furniture and personal property in said
buildings if used in and devoted to the purposes above mentioned; all property
owned and used by any nonprofit corporation in connection with its curriculum,
work, care, treatment and study of feebleminded, mentally retarded, or idiotic
men, women, or children shall also be exempt from taxation, provided that such
corporation conducts and maintains research or professional training facilities
for the care and training of feebleminded, mentally retarded, or idiotic men,
women, or children; provided, in case of all the foregoing, the buildings, or
the lands on which they stand, or the associations, corporations or
institutions using and occupying them as aforesaid, are not conducted for
profit, except that the exemption of the buildings and lands used for
charitable, benevolent or religious purposes shall extend to cases where the
charitable, benevolent or religious work therein carried on is supported partly
by fees and charges received from or on behalf of beneficiaries using or
occupying the buildings; provided the building is wholly controlled by and the
entire income therefrom is used for said charitable, benevolent or religious
purposes. The foregoing exemption shall apply only where the association,
corporation or institution claiming the exemption owns the property in question
and is incorporated or organized under the laws of this State and authorized to
carry out the purposes on account of which the exemption is claimed or where an
educational institution, as provided herein, has leased said property to a
historical society or association or to a corporation organized for such
purposes and created under or otherwise subject to the provisions of Title 15
of the Revised Statutes or Title 15A of the New Jersey Statutes.
As used in this section "hospital purposes" includes health care facilities for the elderly, such as nursing homes; residential health care facilities; assisted living residences; facilities with a Class C license pursuant to P.L.1979, c.496 (C.55:13B-1 et al.), the "Rooming and Boarding House Act of 1979"; similar facilities that provide medical, nursing or personal care services to their residents; and that portion of the central administrative or service facility of a continuing care retirement community that is reasonably allocable as a health care facility for the elderly.
(cf: P.L.2001, c.18, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would amend R.S.54:4-3.6 to clarify an existing property tax exemption for religious or charitable entities, as well as to provide a property tax exemption for religious or charitable entities that provide space to school districts for the preschool and kindergarten programs for disadvantaged children required by the New Jersey Supreme Court or State statute.
The bill would clarify that the portion of a tax exempt building primarily used for religious or charitable purposes that is used for purposes which are not themselves exempt from taxation, is subject to taxation for tax year 2007 and thereafter. The bill also states that the religious or charitable entity would not be liable for any added or omitted assessments for property taxes for any prior tax year during which a profit-making organization was using the portion of a tax exempt building for a purpose that would be exempt under current statute if performed by a not-for-profit entity. This portion of the bill is intended to retroactively address the situation that occurred after the enactment of P.L.2001, c.18, when certain tax assessors began to retroactively assess those portions of tax exempt buildings being used by profit-making organizations performing exempt purposes, for three years worth of omitted property taxes. Preschool and kindergarten programs for students of an Abbott district as defined in section 3 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-3), as required by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke, 153 N.J. 480 (1998), and any preschool or kindergarten program required for the students of any school district pursuant to section 16 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-16), qualify as an exempt purpose.
This bill also retains the property tax exemption of buildings actually used for religious or charitable purposes that would otherwise lose their tax exempt status as a result of leasing a portion of such a building for preschool or kindergarten programs for the students of any Abbott district as defined in section 3 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-3), as required by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke, 153 N.J. 480 (1998), or any preschool or kindergarten program required for the students of any school district pursuant to section 16 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-16). Many religious or charitable entities have been approached by school districts seeking the use of their tax exempt buildings for these public purposes. The religious or charitable entities, seeing the value of these programs to the affected children, would like to be able to offer facilities for these public purposes without endangering their status as property-tax exempt entities.
