Opinion
No. 41261
Decided May 1, 1968.
Taxation — Exemptions — Property used exclusively for charitable purposes — Real property owned by nonprofit charitable corporation — Apartment building for elderly people — Admission fee and monthly fee charged — Residence occupied by director of corporation — Recreation area and golf course — Hospital and nursing care center — Rates per day charged — Not used exclusively for charitable purposes — Not exempt.
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals.
The appellant, Crestview of Ohio, Inc., is an Ohio non-profit corporation affiliated with and sponsored by the Methodist Flower Hospital of Toledo. Appellant filed an application with the Board of Tax Appeals for a tax exemption under Section 5709.12, Revised Code, which exempts property "that is used exclusively for charitable purposes." The appellant sought exemption from taxation for the year 1967, and remission of taxes and penalties for the year 1966, with respect to four contiguous parcels of property in Lucas County which total 74 acres.
The individual parcels are each used differently. One of the parcels contains a 170-unit apartment for people over 65 years of age. The residents must pay an admittance fee of $10,000, or more, and also a monthly fee for food and service. A guaranteed life care plan is part of the contract with every resident in this facility.
Another parcel is the residence of the executive director of Crestview of Ohio, Inc.
The third parcel consists of an undeveloped meadow and a small golf course for the recreational use of the residents.
The fourth parcel is used for the Lake Park Hospital and Nursing Care Center, which is described as a place of institutional convalescence and nursing care. Patients are received from the various acute care hospitals in the Toledo area, and they may stay until the utilization committee decides that they are fit for discharge. The rates a patient must pay depend upon the service he requires, but the minimum is $12 per day. Annual contributions made by the Methodist Conference are used to defray that portion of the costs not covered by the payments of the present number of patients.
The Board of Tax Appeals held that none of these parcels was being used exclusively for charitable purposes, and hence it did not allow the exemptions. Crestview appealed to this court from the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals pursuant to Section 5717.04, Revised Code.
Messrs. Watkins, Watkins Knight, Mr. Harley A. Watkins, Mr. James L. Knight and Mr. William E. Downing, for appellant.
Mr. Harry Friberg, prosecuting attorney, and Mr. John Hayward, for appellee.
The determination of the Board of Tax Appeals that none of the four parcels of land owned by this admittedly worthwhile corporation are being used exclusively for charitable purposes is not unreasonable and unlawful, and the decision of the board is, therefore, affirmed.
The two parcels occupied by the Crestview Club Apartments, and the house of the executive director of Crestview of Ohio, Inc., are being used for private residences, and are not exempt. Philada Home Fund v. Board of Tax Appeals, 5 Ohio St.2d 135, and cases there cited.
The parcel containing the small golf course for the residents of Crestview Club Apartments and their guests does not, in the language of Planned Parenthood Assn. v. Tax Commr., 5 Ohio St.2d 117, represent "an attempt in good faith, spiritually, physically, intellectually, socially and economically to advance and benefit mankind in general, or those in need of advancement and benefit in particular," so as to require a finding of community benefit which would justify the loss of tax revenue involved.
It is also reasonable and lawful for the board to have determined that the remaining parcel, containing Lake Park Hospital and Nursing Care Center, is not being used exclusively for charitable purposes. It has been held that even an acute care hospital should have as an important objective the care of the poor, needy and distressed who are unable to pay in order to be considered exclusively charitable. Cleveland Osteopathic Hospital v. Zangerle, 153 Ohio St. 222. There is no reason why this requirement should not apply equally to convalescent care hospitals, since, if anything, they are less essential than acute care hospitals.
The executive director of Crestview testified that he could remember of only one patient at Lake Park Hospital who was not required to pay the full charges.
In the light of this fact alone, the conclusion of the board is justifiable.
Decision affirmed.
ZIMMERMAN, DUFFY, HERBERT and BROWN, JJ., concur.
TAFT, C.J., and SCHNEIDER, J., dissent from the judgment so far as it denies exemption to the parcel upon which is located the Lake Park Hospital and Nursing Care Center.
O'NEILL, J., not participating.
DUFFY, J., of the Tenth Appellate District, sitting for MATTHIAS, J.