I have not heard anything, but the results will be revealing. If the township officials give the a$$hole a pass on this, it will show just how committed they are to protecting their own butts rather than the best interest of RT.

Christ Church gets 15% tax break
Congregation wants 100% exemption from Rockaway Twp., may appeal
Thursday, December 29, 2005
BY PAULA SAHA
Star-Ledger Staff
The Rockaway Township tax assessor has granted Christ Church a partial property tax exemption -- about 15 percent -- for the tract it purchased earlier this year along Green Pond Road, the assessor said yesterday.

Church officials, who had asked for a 100 percent exemption from property taxes, said they disagree with the assessor's findings and will consider appealing.

Christ Church, a 5,000-member evangelical congregation currently meeting in Montclair, paid $10.25 million last August for the property. Tax Assessor Mark Burek said the entire property is assessed at about $25 million, and the church will be exempt from paying property taxes on $3,848,300 of that assessed value.

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Burek noted, however, that the total assessment figure is in dispute. Rockaway Township and the property's former owners, Agilent Technologies, are in state tax court now because Agilent is trying to lower its assessments for the 2004 and 2005 tax years.

"It's all related at this point," Burek said. "If one thing changes, something else is going to change."

Burek's determination is just the latest development in the Montclair church's attempt to build a religious campus in Rockaway Township. The church has been before the township planning board for about two years seeking site plan approval for a building that would include a sanctuary for more than 2,500 people, a K-5 school and other amenities.

The project has been criticized by many in town who say it is too large for the township and fear its traffic and environmental impact. The church has filed a religious discrimination case against the township. This past fall, the U.S. Justice Department notified Rockaway Township it was looking into whether local officials had committed any civil rights violations.

In August, despite having received no zoning approvals, the church went ahead with buying the property. This fall, church staff started using it as office space.

Burek said he toured the Green Pond Road property Nov. 8. Under state statute, he said, for a religious institution to get a 100 percent exemption from property taxes, 100 percent of that building had to be "actually, exclusively and reasonably necessary" for a religious institution.

"I don't believe they met that criteria," Burek said. He declined to be more specific about what parts of the building were and were not in use.

Church officials disagreed with Burek's determination.

"We will review the matter and determine what our next steps will be, which could include appealing the decision," said Marc Weinstein, a spokesman for Christ Church. "It's obvious that the township recognizes that the church is a tax-exempt organization, and yet the township in its infinite wisdom has decided to tax this property. We find that unconstitutional."

Burek said in making his decision he researched state laws and current court cases. If the church decided to appeal, he said, it would have to do so by April 1. In addition, he said, the church's assessment will be reviewed yearly.

That is indeed the first good news that I have seen since cc became part of our daily lexicon.

Now, we are praying that heating oil prices soar since that building is heated that way. We pray for this despite the fact that this home is also heated by oil, but we feel that it is well worth the extra price if ire-land is forced to loose a few hundred thousand additional bucks this winter in heating bills as it will help to further weaken him financially.

-- Edited by Rational at 11:44, 2005-12-29

Quoting Chuck;

"Now if the DEP will only follow suit it will be a good new year."

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Unfortunately, if the pols that I have been speaking with have it right, that has a slim to zero chance of happening. Sorry.

These guys do not want to get their hands dirty, so to speak. I hear stuff from them like "won't touch it with a ten foot pole, we are avoiding it like the plague, lets talk about something else, and lastly, we look at it as Rockaway Townships problem, not ours thank G-d!


-- Edited by Rational at 15:18, 2005-12-29

Hopefully if CC doesn't pay their taxes to RT the town will follow the same process that they would follow for any other property owner. That would be initially notifying the property owner of taxes due and then ultimately selling the property in order to satisfy the tax obligation. I'm sure that's what the town would do if I didn't pay my taxes and CC should be treated no better and no worse than any other property owner. Does anyone know how long it takes before property is sold to satisfy a tax lien?