Board transfers property to church for tax relief
Submitted by jcht2010 on
The Board of Directors of the George Washington Carver Community Center on June 2 agreed to the transferral ownership of the one time segregated school to the Christ Redeemer Church of Edna to try to alleviate a tax burden.
Trying to get an exemption
Damon Moore, chief appraiser of the Jackson County Appraisal District, said in order to avoid paying future property taxes, the church had to apply for a church exemption by filling out a state form. Moore said Christ Redeemer Church must use the property primarily for worshipping. He said the GWCCC had applied for a religious exemption in 2011 at the Jackson County Appraisal District office, but was not granted one because it did not meet all of the guidelines for a place of worship.
Under property tax code section 11.20 under religious organizations, the real property that is owned by the religious organization, must be used primarily as a place of regular worship, and is reasonably necessary for engaging in religious worship.
Moore said another reason why the exemption was originally denied was because the church was not chartered at any place in Edna. It was chartered in Victoria.
“I’ve contacted the legal council, the comptroller’s office, the property tax assistance division and my legal council,” Moore said. “We’ve exhausted every avenue that we were able to look at and see if we could get any property out there exempt or a property tax cut and we have not been able to find any.”
If an exemption were to be approved it would only be for the building that the church would meet in and not for the entire property.
Moore said a church organization must apply for an exemption at the Jackson County Appraisal District office.
Church leaders say they have already applied and been granted an exemption. All of the GWCCC Board of Directors are also members of Christ Redeemer Church. Therefore, the same people will guide the future of the property.
Rufus Diggs, church pastor and lead elder, said since the church received the exemption, it will not have to pay for future property taxes. Diggs is also the executive director of the Board of Directors of the George Washington Carver Community Center. Currently, GWCCC owes $111,647.30 in back property taxes. All board members of the GWCCC are members of the church that meets at the George Washington Carver Community Center, located at 1128 Martin Luther King Drive in Edna.
Rate this article:
- Log in to post comments
