Borough of Emporium Assessment
Decision Date | 24 February 1967 |
Docket Number | 46 |
Citation | 42 Pa. D. & C.2d 182 |
Parties | Borough of Emporium Assessment |
Court | Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court |
November term, 1966
John D. Gresimer, for appellant.
Edwin W. Tompkins, Jr., for appellee.
Appeal from county board of assessment.
GREINER P. J.
This issue for determination is the taxability of that portion of the basement of the Borough of Emporium's Municipal Building which is leased to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the use of the Department of Forests and Waters as an office for Park RegionNo. 1.No cases have been cited on this precise point where the contested tax assessed area is used by the Commonwealth.It is, therefore, one of first impression.
There are no facts in dispute, and, in effect, the matter is presented to the court on a case stated.Emporium Borough, the county seat of Cameron County, a county of the seventh class, is the sole owner of its municipal building, consisting of a basement and ground or first floor.The entire first floor is occupied and used by the borough for its governmental functions.A portion of the basement is leased by the borough to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the use of the Department of Forests and Waters as office for Park RegionNo. 1, at an annual rental of $ 3,600.There is no question that the Commonwealth uses the leased premises exclusively for its governmental functions.As in the case of the first floor, the borough uses the remainder of the basement exclusively for its governmental functions.The leased premises were initially assessed for local real estate tax purposes by the chief assessor of Cameron County in May 1966.Following a hearing on the borough's timely appeal from such assessment, the Cameron County Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes on November 18, 1966, advised the borough of a reduction from the initial assessment due to correction in the area involved and modification of the use classification.The borough, alleging that it was not legally assessable for any local real estate taxes on the leased portion of its municipal building, filed an appeal to the court of common pleas.
Article IX, sec. 1, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania provides in part:
" . . . the General Assembly may, by general laws, exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes. . . ."
The Fourth to Eighth Class County Assessment Law of May 21, 1943, P. L. 571, sec. 101,72 PS § 5453.101 et seq., provides for exemptions from taxation (72 PS § 5453.202), the pertinent sections of which are as follows:
Although there is no authority on the specific issue before the court, there is ample law relating to the fundamental legal principles involved.The case of West View Borough Municipal Authority Appeal, 381 Pa. 416(1955), embodies much of it.Commencingat page 419, Mr. Chief Justice Horace Stern states:
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