Oorah Scores Clear Victory for Children on Tax Appeal against Town of Jefferson

Schoharie, NY- July 18, 2014- In the culmination of a contentious three-year battle between national
nonprofit Oorah and the Town of Jefferson in Schoharie County, New York, the Appellate Division of the
Supreme Court affirmed the organizations charitable standing in a ruling yesterday that firmly
established the town did not have jurisdiction to deny or call the nonprofits tax-exempt status into
question. The courts ruling forces the town to recognize the charitys property, a former ski lodge
turned childrens camp, used by Oorah in consonance with the organizations mission, as tax-exempt.
The case revealed that the town had illegally denied Oorah its religious rights under the influence and
animosity of former Town Supervisor Dan Singletary. This vindictive abuse of power cost the local
taxpayers many thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight a vendetta with little to no chance of victory
for the town.
The unanimous Appellate Divisions decision vindicates Oorahs persistence in pursuing the case to a
victorious conclusion, despite extreme effort on the towns part to deny the nonprofit its rightful tax
exemption. We were confident in our decision to fight this injustice to the very end, said Rabbi
Avraham Krawiec, director of the Oorah camp, TheZone. Despite the years of unbelievable
mistreatment we faced from the town leadership, this was a mission we accepted for the sake of the
children who enjoy our camp each year.
Statutory law that the courts ruling is based on unequivocally states that a property owner seeking a
real property tax exemption which demonstrates that it is a not-for-profit entity whose tax-exempt
status has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service and whose property is used solely for
[charitable] purposes has made a presumptive showing of entitlement to [the] exemption. The courts
ruling clearly delineates both that Oorah is a legitimate 501(c)3 non-profit organization, as recognized by
the IRS, and that the property is used for charitable purposes, among other things, operating a summer
camp to provide religious, educational, social and moral enrichment and improvement, Accordingly,
to the extent that Supreme Court determined that certain of the subject properties were not entitled to
the exemption, the decision states, this was error.
With no basis for denying Oorah its tax exemption, the town was, in effect, attempting to extract
millions of dollars from its charity beneficiaries. The values that are expressed in the New York State
statute which provides for mandatory tax exemptions for organizations like Oorah is based on a
legislative finding that charitable childrens camps and similar properties have such a strong community
value that weve made a social decision to protect them from taxes so they can thrive, said Oorahs
attorney, John Privitera. The Town of Jefferson was illegally trying to impair the charitable mission of
Oorah in developing the property. This landmark decision affirms the values weve chosen as a society
not to take donated dollars from a charity in the form of property taxes.
The mistreatment Oorah faced in Jefferson stands in stark contrast to the fair, non-discriminatory,
working relationship the organization enjoys with the neighboring town of Gilboa, where a second tax-
exempt camp for children is located. Oorah gives an annual donation to Gilboa in appreciation of the
services and amenities the town provides the camp.
This decision is a victory against municipalities that seek to throttle charities and organizations they
dont like or follow religions they dont embrace, said Privitera. By trying to impose the shackles of
taxes upon a charitable organization, the governing body of Jefferson sought to challenge the very
validity and values of Oorah and limit them from fulfilling their vision and mission, a freedom explicitly
granted them by law.
The town waged war against Oorah from the day the organization bought the former ski lodge property,
beginning with Singletary refusing to process its building permit applications in 2010, despite Oorahs
good faith efforts to comply with all the townships demands. Singletary was voted out of office in
November.
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