Covenant News

Pilgrim Pines Reaches Settlement on Taxes

WEST SWANZEY, NH (July 15, 2004) - The East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) and Pilgrim Pines Conference Center have reached an agreement with the Town of Swanzey to pay a reduced amount of property taxes over a 10-year period.

Bob DeJong, executive director of Pilgrim Pines, stated his sincere thanks for those who have supported the conference center in recent years. "We're glad it's behind us and we hope to have a strong and growing relationship with the town from this day forward."

In a letter to conference churches, Pilgrim Pines Board President Warren Mohr stated that Pilgrim Pines will save approximately $35,000 this year - it had budgeted $92,000 to pay property taxes and will pay about $57,000. "The more overt blessing of the settlement is a return of over $50,000 of funds previously paid to the town and a reduction in the bills going forward of 34 percent for the next 10 years," Mohr added.

Pilgrim Pines is a ministry that is owned and operated by the East Coast Conference. Founded in 1957, it was asked by the town to pay taxes in 1996. Pilgrim Pines went to court shortly thereafter and a Superior Court judge ruled that some of the real estate on the Pilgrim Pines property could be taxed because - in his estimation - it did not fully meet the charitable property tax exemption criteria.

The East Coast Conference (which represented Pilgrim Pines in legal matters) had argued that Pilgrim Pines is like other non-profit church camps and conference centers. And because it is part of a church, it should not be subject to real estate taxes.

In the spring of 2002, Pilgrim Pines began paying taxes to the Town of Swanzey and has paid in full all previous property taxes from 1996 on. Mohr thanked churches and individuals for their longtime support of Pilgrim Pines and tried to simplify what had become a long and drawn out legal process.

"We went to court because under New Hampshire law, an organization such as Pilgrim Pines is judged taxable (for real estate) by whether they meet certain tests as a charitable organization," he stated. "The first judge (in the initial court ruling between the town and Pilgrim Pines) ruled that we did not fully qualify for exemption of our entire property . . . fortunately, the greatest pain is behind us. Through the generosity of many of you, the guests and others, as well as careful financial planning, we were able to weather the storm of paying over $500,000 in past-due taxes, interest penalties and over $120,000 in legal bills. In addition, we have absorbed the normal tax bill into our budget for 2003 and 2004 ($86,000 to $92,000 per year)."

For more information about Pilgrim Pines and its ministries, call DeJong at 603-352-0443. The conference center's website may be found at www.pilgrimpines.org.

Printable version of this page.