St. Margaret’s wins court battle

PRINCETON — St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley has won its fight to keep its tax exempt status.

In recent activity in Bureau County Court, Associate Circuit Judge C.J. Hollerich signed a court order granting a permanent injunction prohibiting Bureau County Supervisor of Assessments Tom Sweeney from assessing St. Margaret’s property and placing it on the county’s property tax rolls.

The judge had previously granted a preliminary order on Dec. 22, 2011, prohibiting Sweeney from assessing St. Margaret’s tax-exempt property for the 2011 year. In making the permanent injunction order, the judge declared null and void the notices of assessments already sent out by Sweeney and ordered Sweeney to provide St. Margaret’s with Certificates for Status of Exempt Property for the 2012 tax year.

On Tuesday, Bureau County State’s Attorney Patrick Herrmann, who represented Sweeney in court, said the judge signed an agreed order, meaning both sides were in agreement, and the county would not appeal the decision. However, the issue as to whether St. Margaret’s property should be considered eligible for tax exemption status, and to what degree, can still be examined by the Illinois Department of Revenue, Herrmann said.

The recent court ruling stems from legal action taken last December by St. Margaret’s Hospital against Sweeney, in his official capacity, to stop him from assessing the hospital property and placing it on the tax rolls. As Bureau County’s Supervisor of Assessment, Sweeney said he had been following direction given to county assessors by the Illinois Department of Revenue, which had ruled to place nonprofit hospitals on tax rolls while the state re-examined criteria for granting tax exemption for nonprofit hospitals.

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