Georgia Supreme Court Hears Private Benefit Oral Argument

I have previously blogged about Spring Harbor retirement home’s quest to retain a property tax exemption, even though it serves only the “healthy wealthy.”  That case deals with a health care retirement home, admission to which is denied to applicants who are either too sick or too poor.  Nobody denies that admitting the indigent sick would hurt the retirement home’s bottom line. Spring Harbor admits candidly that it is affirmatively excludes the indigent sick.  The retirement home essentially argues that its  tax exempt financing — financing approved in a prior bond validation proceeding — precludes any further inquiry into whether the the retirement home is operated for private benefit.  The retirement home also argues that health care, per se, is a public benefit even if the health care affirmatively excludes indigent sick retirees.  The Georgia Supreme Court heard one of the better oral arguments on private benefit that I have ever heard.  Click the link below to watch some good lawyering on both sides:

Scroll down to Columbus Board of Tax Assessors et al. v. The Medical Center Hospital Authority  

darryll k. jones