St. Johns1 Sherkat from Democracywise on Vimeo.
[Anchor intro: After months of sitting empty, St. John the Evangelist Church will have a new tenant in the spring. Brennan’s Stained Glass Studio is moving into the vacant church in March of 2011. Democracywise Reporter Mojgan Sherkat looks at the possible effect on the city’s taxes on the building.]
Churches like St. John the Evangelist are eligible for tax exemptions, allowing them to skip paying all property taxes.
David Clifford, a deputy commissioner in the Syracuse tax assessors office, explains:
“If a church is using a church property for church services and they apply for their exemptions each year — the property’s are totally exempt from taxes.”
(David Clifford, first deputy commissioner of assessment in Syracuse)
That means tax-payer money covers the costs for the services the exempt property owners receive from the city. But, what happens when a local business moves into a church that is no longer functioning as a religious facility?
At age 157 years, St. John the Evangelist Church closed its doors June 30. It was one of several Syracuse churches closing. The Catholic Diocese decided to shut down St. John’s because of a need to reduce costs, a lack of priests and shrinking memberships.
In November, businessman Scott Brennan, the owner of Brennan Stained Glass Studio, announced he is leasing the church with an option to buy. Brennan declined to talk about the tax status of the building for this story. But in an interview three weeks ago with NCC News, he explained why he wanted to move his studio into the church:
“Mostly because of the beauty. It’s ornate. It’s wonderful — creating glass in a museum of glass — because that church features four periods at least of artists of glass in all different styles. You could not be more inspired.”
(Scott Brennan, owner of Brennan Stained Glass Studio.)
For the tax assessor’s office, Deputy Commissioner Clifford says the office does it annual review of properties in January. After that, the city will decide whether the glass studio in the former church becomes a tax-paying tenant. Clifford said the decision will come to two things:
“We’d have to look at what the lease payments were. We’d have to look at the intentions of the parties.”
(David Clifford, first deputy commissioner of assessment in Syracuse)
Reporting for Democracywise, I’m Mojgan Sherkat.
(Mojgan Sherkat is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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