NY High Court Upholds Rules On Free Water For Churches

In Matter of Brooklyn Assembly Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc. v Department of Envtl. Protection of the City of New York, (NY Ct. App., Oct. 28, 2008), New York's high court in a 4-3 decision upheld the New York City Water Board's interpretation of state and local statutes exempting places of public worship from various water and sewer charges. The Board only exempts that portion of a religious corporation's property in fact used for public worship, plus a single caretaker residence. Here the church, which contained a second caretaker's residence and two guest rooms as well, would need to separately meter those in order to obtains an exemption for the rest of the property. The dissenters argued that "the Department of Environmental Protection's ... unwritten rule - - that in order for the religious property to qualify for exemption pursuant to the Water Exemption Statute or the Sewer Ordinance it may not contain more than one caretaker residence on the property - - is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable..." [Thanks to J.J. Landa for the lead.]