Several Organizations Notified They're No Longer Tax Exempt

Several formerly tax exempt Woonsocket civic organizations have received assessment notices, totaling $382,040 in new taxes so far during the last few weeks, keeping Assessor Chris Celeste very busy answering calls and questions. 

The combined taxes on the land and property of the 13 organizations, which include the Cercle Laurier Club, The Elks, Seven Hills,  Le Club Par-X, Club Lafayette, FRCA, Gateway Healthcare, Heaven of Grace Ministries, Head Start, St. Joseph's Veterans Association, the Woonsocket Masons, YWCA and the Italian Workingmen's Club, stands at about $382,040, which Celeste said would knock about $30 off the average single family homeowner's bill. 

The Italian Working Men's Club, said Chairman of the Board Mike Kind, is assessed at a total of about $600,000, for a likely tax bill of $24,000. "That is a figure that just about equals our outreach to the community," Kind said. 

That outreach includes the organization's $7,000 to $10,000 per year in scholarships for WHS and Mount St. Charles graduates, their sponsorship of little league and football teams and their charitable efforts on behalf of people left homeless by fire or other tragedy. Kind said there will not be enough left over from the new tax bill to keep up that work. "It's going to change the nature of what we are," he said. The bills are expected to be sent out in July.

Kind said the club's leadership was aware that the city was re-considering the tax exempt status of local organizations, and had been expecting a development along those lines. "However, we didn't think that the first notification of it would be a notice of assessment," Kind said.

Celeste has been reviewing about 30 organizations this year on the instruction of the Woonsocket Budget Commission, which holds all financial responsibility for the city. He said the Commission voted to send the notices out about a month ago after a closed-session vote. 

Stadium Theater won state-level tax exemption this year, Celeste said, and there are seven organizations and private schools, including Mount St. Charles and Beacon Charter School, that have yet to receive a ruling on their tax exempt status. All the organizations on the list have been given notice that their tax exempt status is under review, he said.

Celeste said though there is no formal appeal process, informally, all the organizations are invited to question him on the process and criteria for the valuations, which is keeping his phone ringing at the moment.