New York Institute for Ed. of Blind v. Town of Wolcott, 107-69

• Decision Date: 03 February 1970
• Docket Number: No. 107-69,107-69
• Citation: 262 A.2d 451,128 Vt. 280
• Parties: The NEW YORK INSTITUTE FOR the EDUCATION OF the BLIND v. TOWN OF WOLCOTT, Town of Wolcott School District et al.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Page 451

262 A.2d 451

128 Vt. 280

The NEW YORK INSTITUTE FOR the EDUCATION OF the BLIND v. TOWN OF WOLCOTT, Town of Wolcott School District et al.

No. 107-69.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

Feb. 3, 1970.

Lee E. Emerson, Barton, for plaintiff.

Robert A. Magoon, Hyde Park, for defendants.

Before HOLDEN, C. J., and SHANGRAW, BARNEY, SMITH and KEYSER, JJ. KEYSER, Justice.

This is a proceeding in the Chancery Court for Lamoille County in which the plaintiff, the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind, seeks by a Petition for a Declaratory, Judgment the determination that its property in the Town of Wolcott is exempt from taxation by said defendant town under 32 V.S.A. § 3802(4), and is entitled to recover certain taxes paid to the defendant under protest for prior years.

The Chancellor made findings based upon an agreed statement of facts filed by the parties. The judgment order of the Chancellor decreed that the plaintiff's real and personal property was exempt from taxation by the defendant town by virtue of 32 V.S.A. § 3802(4), that 32 V.S.A. § 3840 was inapplicable and ordered the defendant town to refund to the plaintiff taxes it had paid for the years 1966-1968. The order further enjoined the collection of taxes on plaintiff's property 'in 1969 and thereafter' and provided that the grand list for the years 1966-1969 be corrected to show the exempt status of the plaintiff. The case is here on appeal by the defendants from the judgment order.

The central issue presented is whether the facilities of the plaintiff (Institute) are used for a purpose enumerated by Section 3802(4), supra, entitling plaintiff's property to be tax exempt, or whether 32 V.S.A. § 3840, supra, precludes exemption without a vote of the town.

The following facts summarize the findings of the Chancellor. The plaintiff is a non-profit corporation incorporated by special act of the legislature of the State of New York enacted in 1831 'for the purpose of instructing children who have been born blind, or who may have become blind by disease or accident.' It operates under the supervision of the State Board of Education of New York and is authorized under the laws of Vermont to conduct its activity in the town of Wolcott.

The Institute founded Camp Wapanacki in the town of Wolcott in 1937 and has operated it since that time administering to children, including Vermont children. Its remedial school with emphasis on the educational training of blind children began in 1962 and has grown and enlarged ever since. The school is one of a very few similar schools in the East.

Funds to operate the Institute are raised by private contributions and by public funds from the State Educational Department of New York, as with other public school facilities of that state. All of the plaintiff's employees are under the New York State Employees Retirement System. Further, public funds are paid to the Institute by the New York Education Department for conducting its project in the defendant town. For 1968 this amounted to $13,462.00, designated 'Summer Remedial School for Blind Children.' This grant was on a joint basis by New York state and the Federal Government to aid in the education of physically handicapped children. The institute must function as a school to be entitled to receive public funds in New York and its annual budget requires approval by the Board of Education of New York. All income received by the plaintiff is used to accomplish its authorized purposes.

Two Vermont blind children attended the summer school session in 1968 and one in 1969. For the past thirty years two or three Vermont children have attended the school is New York. The cost for tuition in 1968 of $2,400 was paid by the Vermont Department of Education. The facility in Wolcott is operated on a separate budgetary basis. The cost of the Vermont program in 1968 was $62,000.00 for approximately 200 blind pupils who took the courses and participated in the programs offered at the camp. The enrollment has been growing each year and in 1969 blind students had to be turned away for lack of available facilities.

A representative of the New York Education Department checked on the plaintiff's summer curriculum at Camp Wapanacki until about three years ago. The Vermont Department of Social Welfare has assisted in the past in the supervision of the camp at the request of the state of New York.

The Institute has a husbandry program at its New York school which includes gardening and poultry raising. This permits practical educational training for emotionally disturbed blind children and those with a lower than average I.Q. who may not qualify to take the regular course.

The camp school is open to all blind children, without charge, regardless of race, creed to color, or wherever residing.

The Institute is tax exempt as a charitable institution under the laws of both New York and Federal law and is also exempt from the payment of income taxes in Vermont.

The physical facilities at Camp Wapanacki consist of a school house with eight classrooms, a gymnasium or recreational hall, dining hall, infirmary, director's and councillors' cabins, lodge, 11 student cabins, and other structures, all necessary equipment, and about 170 acres of land which includes a pond of around 40 acres.

The camp maintains a staff of about fifty, one for about every four blind children. The facilities are especially designed for blind children and the training and instruction is supervised by trained teachers and councillors. The main emphasis is placed on the education of blind boys and girls to aid and assist them in obtaining the equivalent education that boys and girls with eyesight receive under our system of public education for all.

The summer session comprises eight weeks. Instruction is given in Reading and Writing, Written and Oral Expression, History, Braille, Mathematics, Spelling, Shop instruction, Musicial Survey, Remedial instruction in Basic Skills, Abacus instruction, Social Studies and English. For intellectually superior blind children courses were also given in conversational French and Spanish, English, Social Sciences, Business Economics, Music and Arts and Crafts. These latter courses are provided to fit the blind boy or girl for college entrance. Courses are likewise planned for those students who need remedial instruction in basic tool subjects, such as Braille reading and writing, English, Mathematics, Basic Sciences and Languages. In addition, a program of camping activities is provided which consists of swimming, boating, riding, overnight camping trips, cookouts and dramatics.

The blind receiving instruction at plaintiff's premises in defendant town are not members of the plaintiff corporation, neither do they have to be. Some of the children come from as far away as Europe.

The State of Vermont is committed to a special education and rehabilitation program for Vermonters. This it must do in order to receive federal matching funds. When the State does not have adequate services of its own to treat the handicapped, it uses the facilities of other states. Educatable blind children resident in Vermont between the ages of 6 and 16 are pupils within the meaning of our public school law, entitled to public instruction the same as other children not handicapped. The plaintiff's operation in defendant town provides such facilities and has assisted the State Board of education in meeting its responsibility to blind children.

The applicable provisions of 32 V.S.A. § 3802(4) are as follows:

3802. Property tax

'The following property shall be exempt from taxation * * *

(4) Real and personal estate granted, sequestered or used for public, pious or charitable uses; * * * and lands owned or leased by colleges, academies or other public schools.'

The appellants argue that plaintiff's tax status is controlled by a later enacted statute, 32 V.S.A. § 3840, not by Section 3802(4), and is quoted as follows:

3840. Charitable and fraternal organizations

'When a society or body of persons associated for a charitable purpose, in whole or in part, including fraternal organizations and volunteer fire companies, own real estate used exclusively for the purposes of such society, body or organization, such real estate may be exempted from taxation, either in whole or in part, for a period not exceeding ten years, if the town so votes. Upon the expiration of such exemption, a town may vote additional periods of exemption not exceeding five years each.'

These statutes being related to tax exemption must be construed with reference to each other as parts of one system. They are to be construed most strongly against one who claims their benefit but, such construction must be reasonable and not such as would defeat the purposes of the statute. Experiment in International Living v. Town of Brattleboro, 127 Vt. 41, 45, 238 A.2d 782. The intention of the Legislature must be ascertained and given effect. Stowe Prep. School, Inc. v. Town of Stowe, 124 Vt. 392, 396, 205 A.2d 544. Because 32 V.S.A. § 3840 was enacted later than 32 V.S.A. § 3802 the general exceptions of the earlier enactment were modified and made less inclusive by the later one. Fort Orange Council v. French, 119 Vt. 378, 382, 125 A.2d 835. Thus, if the facts in a given case are of a character that the case falls within 32 V.S.A. § 3840, the provisions of that section are controlling and there can be no tax exemption without a vote of the...