Property Tax Exempt As Parsonage, But Not As Property Use Exclusively For Religious Purposes

In Rockland Hebrew Educational Center, Inc. v. The Village of Spring Valley, (NY Sup Ct, Sept. 8, 2010),  a Jewish religious educational organization challenged a village's refusal to renew the tax exemption for its property. A New York trial court held that the village carried its burden of showing that the property was not entitled to a tax exemption as real property owned by a religious or educational institution and used exclusively for those purposes. The exemption was unavailable because the organization was also using the property in violation of the zoning code by conducting religious services there. However the property is entitled to an exemption for property owned by a religious organization and used as a parsonage by its clergy.