Turpentine Creek Property Taxes
I have long been a supporter of the big cat wildlife refuge outside of Eureka Springs. One of the first projects I was involved with when I first started working with them was to try to put together a loan package for them to refinance the original property purchase loan with a new bank loan. Another goal was also to clean up the name on the title for the property from that of the foundation's president, Tanya Smith, to the foundation itself.

The true non-profit nature of Turpentine Creek's finances made it impossible to satisfy the banks' loan criteria. As the old banker's joke goes, they only want to loan you an umbrella when it's not raining and money when you can prove that you don't need it.

The title issue has created a problem with the county property taxes. If the foundation's name were on it, the property would be tax exempt. However, with Tanya's name on it, they have been assessed the full amount of taxes. They are in a very real Catch 22 situation. Tanya can't transfer the property to the foundation without triggering the original seller to demand payment in full for the loan, which obviously can't be afforded.

The Carroll County ruling authorities have been complete jerks about this situation and are threatening to sell the property at the end of July if the $26,000 in back taxes for the past five years aren't paid. I'm not involved enough in local politics to understand why they are being this nasty to a charity that has been filling a very real need; but it's obvious that some people have ulterior motives for trying to shut them down.

Here is Tanya's explanation of the problem. She is absolutely right that they should be exempt from property tax and the county is being completely unreasonable in not taking into account the difficulties in straightening out the title issue.

- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 7/15/2003 10:07:00 PM Send this post: