Forum on the Nonprofit Sector [Registration is now closed]

Nonprofits and Property Tax Exemption

June 8, 2010, 8:30-11:15 a.m.
UW-Milwaukee School of Continuing Education
161 West Wisconsin Ave
Milwaukee, WI
Light breakfast will be available beginning at 8:00 a.m.

The growing fiscal challenges facing municipalities across the country are magnifying the importance of property tax as a source of revenue and increasing the controversy over property tax exemptions for charitable organizations. Pittsburgh has become a hotbed of activity where nonprofit property tax exemptions are being challenged, and similar tensions are surfacing in Wisconsin communities. What's at stake? Please join us as we explore this issue from a range of perspectives, including:

• A public policy overview of national trends in the property tax exemption for nonprofit organizations, with some lessons from Pittsburgh
• The local context: a patchwork of exemptions in Wisconsin
• A special case in Wisconsin: nonprofit-owned rental housing
• A city assessor's perspective on the property tax exemption
• Implications of challenges to property tax exemptions for nonprofit organizations

Panelists include:

• Margaret M. Derus, Attorney, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.
• Kevin Kearns, Professor of Public Policy, University of Pittsburgh
• Timothy J. Radelet, General Counsel, Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority
• Peter Weissenfluh, Chief Assessor, City of Milwaukee Assessor's Office

This forum is co-sponsored by the Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Marquette Legal Initiative for Nonprofit Corporations, a public service program of Marquette University Law School.