Each facility - Montereau, Tulsa Jewish Retirement and Health Care Center and Baptist Village of Owasso - will argue before the board that it should be exempt from paying property taxes because it is a nonprofit continuum-of-care facility, according to protests filed with the Tulsa County Clerk's Office.

State law defines a continuum-of-care facility as a home, establishment or institution providing nursing facility services. These include services at assisted living centers and adult day care centers.

A hearing before the equalization board is the second step in the formal appeals process available to all taxpayers. The first step is an informal hearing at the Assessor's Office.

Montereau, Tulsa Jewish Retirement and Health Care Center and Baptist Village of Owasso each participated in the informal hearing process, and the original assessments were reduced.

Before filing their protest with the Board of Equalization, Montereau and Tulsa Jewish Retirement and Health Care Center each took the unusual step of filing petitions in Tulsa County District Court, asking the court to order Assessor Ken Yazel to classify their properties as tax-exempt, as the Assessor's Office has done in years past.

At a court hearing last week, Tulsa County District Judge Mary Fitzgerald denied Montereau's request, saying the court did not have jurisdiction to take such action.

"The Legislature is clear ... in saying that proceedings before the county assessor and the boards of equalization and appeals therefrom shall be the sole method by which assessments or equalizations shall be corrected or taxes abated," Fitzgerald said, adding that "it is not up to this court to circumvent the administrative processes that are set out."

Immediately after Fitzgerald's ruling, Tulsa Jewish Retirement and Health Care Center filed its protest with the Board of Equalization and dropped its suit against the Assessor's Office.

The Board of Equalization on Wednesday will be asked to address two issues: whether all of the property at the continuum-of-care facilities should be exempt from paying property taxes and, if not, how much the assessment should be on the properties.

The equalization board is made up of three members: Ted Kachel, Warren Morris and Ruth Gaines. The Tulsa County commissioners, the Oklahoma Tax Commission and a district judge or a majority of the Tulsa County district judges each appoint one member.

See original here:
Retirement communities take tax dispute to Board of Equalization