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• Freeport policy revision
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m Santlno meeting in Baidwin -pages
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Thursday, December 9, 2004
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by Bill and Norma Braun
Santa Glaus and the holiday season ) came early to Freeport on Friday evening, December 3.
The Freeport Chamber of Commerce, along with Assemblyman Dave McDonough and Councilwoman Angle CuUin, sponsored a Holiday Light Parade on Woodcleft Avenue.
Hundreds of people lined Woodcleft Avenue to enjoy hot chocolate, candy canes, a live nativity, elves, dancing girls,- carolers and, of course, good old St. Nick. X... , • :
JC COVE lights up.
Court: 'clergy remain tax exempt'
by Laura Schofer
The Court of Appeals in Albany ruled unanimously on November 30 that an officiating clergy's residence is tax-exempt from property taxes in New York.
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Word of Life Ministries in Freeport. In 1999 Word of Life Ministries had been denied tax exempt
status on four pieces of property in the Village of Freeport where officiating clergymen lived. Both Nassau County and the Village of Freeport concluded that the properties were not tax exempt under Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) 462. Although the law states that "property owned by a religious corporation while actually used by the officiating clergymen thereof for resident purpose shall be exempt from taxation," the issue
here was whether the men living at the four residences in Freeport are "officiating clergymen."
. Word of Life Ministries won the exemption in State Supreme Court in Mineola in 2002. Nassau County did not appeal the decision. However, the Village of Freeport pursued the matter, which ended up before the Court of Appeals. The village argued that an assistant pastor by virtue of title alone can rarely constitute officiating clergy within the meaning of the staute. But the Court of Appeals said the village read the statue "narrowly." True, 'officiating clergyman' does not mean all clergymen. But neither does it mean only one clergy person who presides over subordinates," reads the decision.
"All of the pastors, including those living at the residences in question, were
ordained and held no outside employment. All took part in church services and shared in the preaching. All provided marital counseling, officiated at marriages and funerals, and administered the sacraments recognized by the Church," said the decision. The decision says that Word of Life pastors ministered to about 2,000 people weekly.
Word of Life Ministries was founded by Caspar Anastasi, who is also the Church's bishop. Annette Scoca, a spokesperson for Word of Life Ministries, confirmed that Word of Life Ministries has 13 churches in the New York metropolitan area as well as ministries in the Caribbean and Africa. She did not return our telephone call for further comment on the decision prior to press time.
Richard Blumberg, attorney representing the Village of Freeport, said, "We will comply with the decision."
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | The-Leader_2004-12-09 |
| Subject | Newspaper |
| Description | This is a Newspaper distributed locally within the Village of Freeport and Baldwin. |
| Creator | Linda Toscano |
| Publisher | L & M Publications, Inc. |
| Contributors | Scanned by Imaging & Microfilm Access, Inc. (Bohemia, NY 11716) |
| Date | 2004 |
| Type | Periodical |
| Format | PDF; TIFF |
| Source | Freeport Memorial Library |
| Language | English |
| Coverage | United States |
| Rights | This digital image may be freely used for educational uses, as long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this image is permitted without written permission of the Freeport Memorial Library, 144 W. Merrick Road, Freeport, NY 11520 or email: frreference@freeportlibrary.info |
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