A NY State Supreme Court ruled on July 6 that a Civil Rights lawsuit filed by The Legion of Christ against the Town of Mount Pleasant presented no evidence of discrimination by town officials and dismissed the suit for a lack of evidence.
The legal argument were made over the fact that the Town Assesor determined that an undeveloped, 161-acre piece of property in Thornwood, Mt. Pleasant was taxable. The Roman Catholic order based in Cheshire, Conn. had sought a tax-exempt status as a religious group.
The Legion bought the former conference center in 1996. It consisted of two parcels, a 164-acre unimproved area and a contiguous 97-acre parcel that contained the conference center. In 1997, the Legion applied to the Town for a tax-exempt status for the unimproved parcel, which the Town denied, beginning 25 years of litigation.
The Legion of Christ no longer owns the former conference center. In 2017, EF Academy opened a private boarding high school on the property. The Legion still owns the unimproved parcel and is trying to sell the propert to one of several interested developers.
“I’m pleased that the Supreme Court continues to uphold the Town Assessor’s determination of the taxability of the Legion’s 161-acre vacant property. This was never about religious discrimination,” said Town Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi. “The two decisions are an enormous benefit to the taxpayers of the Town ensuring that our institutional properties are paying their fair share of property taxes so that the property tax burden of our residents is mitigated.”
