Cedar Grove VFW wins 20K tax appeal
Sometimes, life is fair.
The little guy wins.
You can fight city hall.
The little guys in this case are the last few members of VFW Post 6255. City hall is the Township of Cedar Grove.
The township sent the VFW a tax bill for $19,862 on what the vets maintained was tax-exempt property.
"We hadn't paid taxes on property for more than 60 years," said Fred Urban, the post commander and a Vietnam War veteran. "We didn't have the money."
"If we had to pay those taxes, we were finished," said Richard Ventola, the post quartermaster, also a Vietnam vet.
A column I wrote about the veterans' plight in April got the attention of attorney Richard P. De Angelis Jr., who offered to take the VFW case pro bono.
"I felt it was the least we could do for the guys," said De Angelis, who is with McKirdy & Riskin of Morristown, a law firm specializing in eminent domain, condemnation, redevelopment and real estate tax appeals. "My father was a veteran, my grandfather was a veteran. I saw the story and felt for them.
"These are guys trying to hold onto something that people who haven't served can't truly understand," he said.
MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns
On Monday, the Essex County Board of Taxation Commissioners issued the two-word ruling the VFW had hoped for:
EXEMPTION GRANTED.
And the three-word impact is: BACK IN BUSINESS.
"We're going to do some fundraising and try to fix (the property) up," Urban said.
The post was formed in 1952, on land donated by the township in gratitude for most members' World War II service. There were 660 VFW members in those early days.
The vets built a banquet hall which became a township social center.
"You know how many people had their wedding receptions at our place?" Ventola asked.
The VFW also allowed local police, fire department, Scout troops, etc., to use its picnic grounds.
Fast forward to 2013. The membership is aging out, the fabric of small-town American civic life has loosened and a blizzard collapses the roof of the VFW hall. The township condemns the building and demolishes it. The veterans store their parade flags, memorabilia and documents in a shipping container on the property and occasionally meet in the unheated, dilapidated picnic shack at the back of the property.
The township cites state statute 54:4-3.6, which says a nonprofit organization must have a usable building on the property to be given tax-exempt status.
The 1.4-acre, commercially zoned property on Pompton Avenue (Route 23), assessed at $885,100, is put back on the tax rolls.
To be fair, Tax Assessor Richard Hamilton's decision was in line with a reading of the statute, which is designed to prevent nonprofit corporations from stockpiling land and dodging taxes on unimproved property. At the time he made the decision, the VFW was holding its regular meetings in the town hall, rent free.
But when De Angelis entered the case, he was armed with statutes of his own.
"He made some very interesting legal arguments that were way above my pay grade," Ventola said.
One statute (54:4-3.5) grants tax exemption on property used for military purposes and includes "any building, real estate or personal property used by an organization composed entirely of veterans of any war of the United States," provided the property is used for charitable purposes.
The second statute (54:4-3.25) grants tax exemptions for "all real and personal property used in the work, for the support ... of one or more bona fide national war veterans' organizations or posts, or bona fide affiliated associations, whether incorporated or unincorporated, existing and established on June 18, 1936."
The VFW was incorporated by a congressional charter in April of that year, signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
"The language is very specific," De Angelis said. "We can't know if the (New Jersey) statute was passed in response to the VFW charter, but the timing is interesting."
The VFW's case was heard by Commissioner Peter G. Stewart and the order was signed by all seven commissioners.
"I think he was pretty sympathetic to us, based on the questions he was asking," Ventola said.
The township has 45 days to appeal.
"They've never collected taxes on this property," De Angelis said. "So my hope is they'll leave well enough alone."
Thomas Tucci, the town administrator, was on vacation and unavailable for comment. Hamilton said he hadn't seen the ruling yet and the decision to appeal would be up to the governing body.
"We're not totally out of the woods yet, but I suspect we are," said Ventola. "We're in good shape now."
"We have our fingers crossed," Urban said.
Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.