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COLUMBUS, Ga. — In a landmark case of governmental double-dipping, the Columbus Board of Tax Assessors was denied permission to charge property taxes to the Hospital Authority for owning Spring Harbor.

The final ruling was issued by the Georgia Court of Appeals on June 28, 2023, after two prior court cases already ruled the tax board overstepped its bounds by trying to tax the publicly-owned retirement community. 

Since the retirement community is owned and operated by CCG’s Hospital Authority under strict criteria, the retirement community is deemed public property and is thus exempt from ad valorem property taxes — though that didn’t stop the Board of Tax Assessors from trying for over a decade in court.

The crux of the dilemma rested on whether or not the Hospital Authority — who owns Spring Harbor through a lease from Columbus Regional Healthcare — was using its income to further “the legitimate functions of the Hospital Authority.” Since an audit of Spring Harbor’s revenue determined it was in fact being properly used to pay back the government bonds used to build the retirement community in the first place, the courts have again deemed Spring Harbor to be public property under the ownership and control of CCG’s Hospital Authority.

As is no surprise, CCG can’t tax its own public property — especially one whose revenue is used as public money to pay back the government bonds used to build it in the first place.

The recent ruling from the Court of Appeals include citations of Georgia State Law which cover the exact scenario in question, stating the following:

Under Georgia law, it is clear that all public property is exempt from ad valorem property taxes. OCGA § 48-5-41 (a) (1) (A). OCGA § 31-7-75 (7) further provides that: [e]very hospital authority shall be deemed to exercise public and essential governmental functions and shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this article including, . . . [the power [t]o lease . . . any project, [that] will promote the public health needs of the community … And, as this Court previously observed on appeal, ‘the mere fact that property is owned by a Hospital Authority does not exempt it from property taxes. [But] the property need not actually contain a healthcare facility to be exempt, as long as the use of the property or its income furthers ‘the legitimate functions of the hospital authority.’

In short: CCG tried three times for over a decade to charge property taxes on its own public property, while the revenue from that property was already considered public money to pay back government bonds for its own construction. Greedy double-dipping at its best. 

Read on for the greedy-yet-laughable 16-year-long backstory of how CCG continued to sue itself, so it could tax itself, and then lost three times to itself, all on your taxpayers’ dime.

THE SAGA BEGINS 

Back in May of 2007, the Hospital Authority sued the Tax Board — both of which are subordinate branches of CCG, by the way — after it first tried to tax the publicly-owned property. The Superior Court found that Spring Harbor was in fact public property and exempt from property taxes, ruling in favor of the Hospital Authority. 

The Tax Board filed an appeal against that 2007 decision, but the courts affirmed their original decision leaving the tax board on the losing end for a second time. 

ROUND TWO

Years later in 2017, the Supreme Court of Georgia decided to reevaluate the lower-court’s decision and reversed their ruling, holding that the Hospital Authority’s ownership of Spring Harbor might not have been purely as public property. The case was then remanded for the trial court to reevaluate its decision. 

When the trial court concluded in 2017, it was determined that the original ruling was correct: Spring Harbor is in fact public property and is thus exempt from ad valorem property tax; CCG can’t double-dip by taxing itself to collect revenue from already-public money.

FOR A THIRD TIME

Upon that 2017 ruling, the Tax Board appealed the trial court’s decision again.

That ruling was finally issued by the Georgia Court of Appeals just a few weeks ago on June 28, which again — for a third time — found that Spring Harbor was in fact public property exempt from property taxes. 

You can read the court’s June 28 ruling in full through Justia. 

THE BOTTOM LINE

Call us crazy, but if Georgia State Law specifically cites the exact scenario covered in this case, and there are already two examples of case law clearly upholding an opinion on the State’s interpretation of the law, then maybe CCG shouldn’t have wasted taxpayers’ money over the course of 16 freakin’ years so it could try to greedily charge property taxes on a retirement community it already owns. 

The recent June 28 ruling of the Georgia Court of Appeals seems to agree.

If you ever needed any more proof of how the CCG Board of Tax Assessors behaves like a mafia of kneecapping extortion artists, this example of trying to double-dip its meddling fingers into its own pockets on your dime really takes the cake.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

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