Hackensack now free to sue hospital that shifts tax burden

Two views of a home being built on North Woodland Street and Booth Avenue in Englewood, above and below, where city officials gave property owner Nader Bolour a permit to remove 109 trees as long as he plants 273 new trees, The Record reported in December 2014.

Bolour, a native of Iran, is owner of the Doris Leslie Blau Gallery of antique carpets and custom-designed rugs in Manhattan.

Editor's note: Subscribers received an e-mail from The Record that "a production issue" may delay delivery of today's paper. This post is based on a story that appears on the paper's Web site.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack and other towns "may try to levy property taxes against non-profit hospitals now that Governor Christie has vetoed legislation" that would require them to pay a relatively small community service fee, The Record says.

Hackensack University Medical Center and other non-profits that claim exemption from property taxes shift the burden unfairly onto homeowners and businesses -- a story the Woodland Park daily has ignored for years.

Hackensack's assessor has successfully taxed $139 million in HUMC property, yielding about $4,877,000 a year.

But the main hospital complex, an additional $257 million in property that is tax exempt, would yield more than $10 million in revenue for the city, and likely halt the annual increase on other tax payers.

Under the proposed state law, HUMC would have paid the city $690,762 a year -- essentially chump change.

Christie veto

Christie vetoed a bill proposed after "last summer's Tax Court decision that invalidated the property tax exemption enjoyed by non-profit Morristown Medical Center," Washburn reports.

The hospital's parent company, Atlantic Health System, eventually settled, The Record says, "agreeing to pay $15.5 million to satisfy back taxes and interest, and will make future payments of about $1 million a year as tax on the for-profit part of its operation."

Washburn's story makes no reference to HUMC, the biggest non-profit hospital in North Jersey.

Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck, Ridgewood, Wayne and Paterson now are free to repeat Morristown's successful challenge to the non-profit status of the hospital in their community. 

HUMC faces $10M tax bill if city sues non-profit and wins

A ladder in the men's room on the 3rd floor of Hackensack City Hall -- next to City Council Chambers -- could serve as an escape route for officials should angry residents besiege them for refusing to sue and challenge the non-profit, tax-exempt status of Hackensack University Medical Center.

The ladder leads to the roof, City Hall employees said.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack University Medical Center and other non-profit hospitals in North Jersey are scrambling to avoid a court ruling that would strip them of their tax-exempt status.

And figures released today by Hackensack Tax Assessor Art Carlson show why:

As a non-profit, HUMC owns $257 million in property that is totally tax exempt, including the main hospital and parking garage; and cancer and research centers.

That is far higher than previously thought, and nearly twice the figure published in The Record in a Page 1 story last Nov. 24.

If the city sues HUMC and wins, the hospital could face a property tax bill of more than $10 million, Carlson said.

That would be on top of the $4,877,000 HUMC already pays the city on an additional $139 million in property that is taxable.

The enormous tax exemption has shifted the burden onto long-suffering homeowners and commercial property tax payers, who face higher bills every year with no end in sight.

Morristown suit

Another non-profit, Morristown Medical Center, was sued by Morristown, resulting in a landmark Tax Court decision against the hospital.

Judge Vito Bianco ruled that non-profit hospitals in the early 21st century are essentially "legal fictions," The Record reported on Nov. 24.

The hospital settled, agreeing to pay Morristown $15.5 million over three years.

To avoid the same fate, HUMC and other non-profits in Ridgewood, Teaneck, Englewood, Wayne and Paterson have been backing a bill in the state Legislature that would require them to pay a "community service contribution," Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reported on Monday.

Of course, the "contribution" is just that, far smaller than their tax exemption under an antiquated 1913 law.

Under the proposed state law, HUMC would pay the city $690,762 a year -- essentially chump change.

Local news?

Bergen County readers got a good screwing from local Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza.

Today's Local section is dominated by Passaic County news (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6). 

Even the local obituary is about a man from Clifton (L-6).

The closest Sykes and Sforza got to Hackensack news was a story from neighboring Maywood (L-6).

HUMC offers chump change to overburdened taxpayers

First, drivers faced detours and lane closings caused by extensive utility and sewer pipe excavations. Now, they have to drive over rough patches like this one on River Street in Hackensack, hoping against hope for a repaving that may never come.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack residents are checking their bank balances to see if they can make a quarterly tax payment of several thousand dollars next month.

And what are Hackensack University Medical Center officials doing to compensate for the huge amount of tax-exempt property they own that generates not a single dollar for the city, shifting the tax burden even further onto residents ?

They're offering chump change to the city under a proposed law that would assess non-profit hospitals a "community service contribution," according to a Page 1 story in The Record today.

Hackensack "would receive $690,762.50" from HUMC, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reports.

$15.5M deal

Meanwhile, Mayor John Labrosse and other City Council members haven't explained why they aren't filing a lawsuit like the one that netted Morristown a settlement of $15.5 million over 10 years (A-1).

A tax court this summer ruled that Morristown Medical Center was not entitled to its property tax exemption "because its operations were little different from those of a for-profit company," Washburn reports.

The paper's chief medical writer didn't bother to interview officials in Hackensack or any other municipality with a non-profit hospital, including Teaneck, Englewood, Ridgewood and Wayne.

Wish list for '16

Topping readers' wish list for 2016 is the departure of Road Warrior John Cichowski and all of the other burned-out columnists at The Record.

It's time for some fresh voices from reporters who aren't afraid to challenge authority.

Today's Road Warrior column is so poorly written and edited, readers can't figure out exactly why a traffic safety officer wants more cameras.

When Cichowski took over the column more than a dozen years ago, it was intended as a guide for commuters.

But, either through laziness or sheer incompetence, Cichowski started to rely almost exclusively on emailed complaints from drivers for his column ideas.

In the process, he often loads his columns with accident data, and commits more errors than any other staffer at the Woodland Park daily.

Thanks to Liz Houlton, the six-figure production editor, few of them were caught or corrected.