Opinion
No. 31223
Decided April 21, 1948.
Taxation — Real property not exempt — Building used for residential, public worship and charitable purposes — Section 2, Article XII, Constitution — Sections 5349 and 5353, General Code — Parcel may not be split to tax and exempt portions thereof.
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals.
An application was filed with the auditor of Jefferson county to exempt real property from taxation on the grounds that such property is being used exclusively for public worship and is property of an institution used exclusively for charitable purposes. The county auditor found that two thirds of the property was being used for the purposes set forth in the application and that such proportion of the building and of the land should be exempted from taxation.
The Board of Tax Appeals, after a hearing, denied the application.
The journal entry of the board recites the facts in detail, and they are hereinafter summarized with the conclusions of the board.
The building in question is brick, contains three stories and occupies practically an entire lot located in downtown Steubenville.
The first floor of the building is used for a church chapel and a, sacristy. The Board of Tax Appeals found that the first floor of the building is used exclusively for purposes of public worship, within the purview of Section 5349, General Code.
On the second floor of the building, there are eight office rooms, three or more other rooms which are used as living quarters for the priest of the chapel, and another room used at times as living quarters for a visiting priest who occasionally assisted in chapel services. The testimony is indefinite as to the number and allocation of the office rooms for particular purposes. The record discloses that some of the office rooms are used by the pastor of the chapel and his office help in publishing a religious paper, and some are used by another priest and his assistants in connection with the superintendency of schools of the diocese which includes 13 counties. The Board of Tax Appeals decided that the second floor of the building is not used exclusively for public worship or exclusively for charitable purposes, as three or more rooms are occupied and used as a place of residence by the pastor of the chapel and an occasional assistant (citing Gerke, Treas., v. Purcell, 25 Ohio St. 229; Watterson v. Halliday, Aud., 77 Ohio St. 150, 82 N.E. 962; Incorporated Trustees of Gospel Worker Society v. Evatt, Tax Commr., 140 Ohio St. 185, 189, 42 N.E.2d 900), and some of the rooms are used in connection with the publication of the religious paper.
The third floor is occupied as a place of residence by six members of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, some continually engaged in remaking or repairing clothing donated for the poor and some engaged in outside activities in ministering to the sick and needy poor. The Board of Tax Appeals was of the view that the third floor is used exclusively for charitable purposes and that the use as a place of residence for the sisters does not detract from the charitable use of that part of the property, within the purview of Section 5353, General Code. Citing Aultman Hospital Assn. v. Evatt, Tax Commr., 140 Ohio St. 114, 116, 42 N.E.2d 646.
The Board of Tax Appeals in its journal entry stated that the condition for the exemption of property from taxation is not satisfied by evidence tending to show that the property is used only in part for a purpose permitting tax exemption. Citing Pfeiffer et al., Trustees, v. Jenkins et al., Board of Tax Appeals, 141 Ohio St. 66, 46 N.E.2d 767; East Cleveland Post No. 1500, V. F. W., v. Board of Tax Appeals, 139 Ohio St. 554, 41 N.E.2d 242; Welfare Federation of Cleveland v. Glander, Tax Commr., 146 Ohio St. 146, 64 N.E.2d 813.
Mr. Robert J. Anglin, for appellant.
Mr. Hugh S. Jenkins, attorney general, and Mr. Aubrey A. Wendt, for appellee.
The decision of the Board of Tax Appeals is affirmed.
Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution, provides that "* * * general laws may be passed to exempt * * * public school houses, houses used exclusively for public worship, institutions used exclusively for charitable purposes * * *."
Section 5349, General Code, provides that "* * * houses used exclusively for public worship * * * shall be exempt from taxation. * * *"
Section 5353, General Code, likewise exempts "real * * * property belonging to institutions used exclusively for charitable purposes."
The real property sought to be exempted in the present proceeding is not used exclusively for public worship or does not belong to an institution used exclusively for a charitable purpose. See Society of Precious Blood v. Board of Tax Appeals, ante, 62; Watterson v. Halliday, Aud., supra; Gerke, Treas., v. Purcell, supra.
Taxing authorities are not authorized to split the listing of a separate parcel of real property owned by a single charitable institution so as to tax a portion and exempt the rest of the property from taxation. Welfare Federation of Cleveland v. Glander, Tax Commr., supra. Decision affirmed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., TURNER, MATTHIAS, HART, ZIMMERMAN, SOHNGEN and STEWART, JJ., concur.