Tax woes troubling future of nonprofit

The Watertown Daily Times reported that a Tompkins County nonprofit land conservation organization is worried it could lose most of its St. Lawrence County property to thousands of dollars due in delinquent taxes because assessors routinely do not recognize its efforts as tax-exempt.

"We try to protect the environment. That's our mission," Common Field Vice President Ibe M. Jonah said. "We're hoping to find a free attorney to impress on the county what we stand for."

Common Field, Lansing, has acquired more than 40 parcels in Central and Northern New York. Most of the property is in Tompkins County, where the organization has run into problems with neighbors, zoning and assessors. In St. Lawrence County, the organization has 16 parcels in 11 locations, many of them purchased at tax sales.

The organization owns 484.45 acres of land in the towns of Brasher, Potsdam, Lawrence, Gouverneur, Fine, Norfolk, Stockholm, Piercefield, Pitcairn and Hammond and the village of Norwood.

Much of the land was acquired by Common Field founder Christopher H. Muka, whose nickname is "Nature Boy," who either sold or donated the land to the nonprofit.

"I know they have applied in towns to be tax-exempt," county Director of Real Property Darren W. Colton said. "That's with the assessor. They have to qualify in the use of the land."

Common Field owes back taxes on most of its properties in St. Lawrence County but isn't in danger of losing them this year, Mr. Colton said. With the exception of one property in the town of Stockholm, all of the other assessors have denied Common Field's annual applications to be tax exempt.

Common Field filed the application for tax-exempt status annually up to two or three years ago, but no longer tries, said Stephen E. Teele, assessor for the town of Hammond, where Common Field owns 16.6 acres off Alamogin Road.

"Most of it, it's under water. It's pretty wet," Mr. Teele said. "There's a little bit of woodland. It's probably worth about $4,000."

To be tax-exempt, the land has to be held for public use, which Common Field says all of its parcels are. The trouble is, the organization does not have signs on many of its St. Lawrence County properties declaring them as public, and many are difficult to reach. The organization does not have a website. Read more here.