Carle Tax Fight Continues

Carle took a hit this time on the endless tax dispute between it and local taxing authorities which continues to cost county taxpayers litigation costs. From the News-Gazette last week:

Judge rules officials had right to assess Carle's properties in 2004
Local assessment officials had the right to assess four Carle Foundation properties in Urbana, according to a written ruling issued Tuesday by Champaign County Judge Randy Rosenbaum...

In denying Carle's motion for a summary judgment on a key count of what's become a decade-old lawsuit, Rosenbaum said assessment officials needed to place a value on the properties, so exemptions could be decided by the Illinois Department of Revenue.

Any other view would lead to the "absurd result" that taxing authorities would never be able to review current assessments and exemptions unless the owner notified them of a change, the ruling states.

"The court finds that the local assessors had the authority to assess, and, even if they did not, the assessments are still valid because the Board of Review and the DOR (Department of Revenue) had the authority to act," Rosenbaum wrote. "This applies to all the tax years in question. In short, there was no wrongful termination of exemptions as plaintiff (Carle) asserts."

The Carle tax lawsuit is headed to trial in January 2019. The trial is expected to run 15 to 21 days.

More on the pre-trial victory at the full article here.