Agenda - 06-05-2018 8-d - Refund Request – Sports Endeavors, Inc.

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REDEVELOPMENT COM'N OF HIGH POINT v. Guilford County, 164 S.E.2d 476, 274... Page 5 of 6 18 "There is no evidence in the record of this case indicating that the Town of Benson ever had any intention of devoting the lands purchased under tax foreclosure proceedings for a public purpose. The lands were rented, and the town received the rental income. They were held for sale, and the present action was brought because of bidders for the property. The only suggestion of a public purpose or public use is that the purchase of the tracts was necessary to protect the town's tax liens. Having done that, the town held the lands as would any other purchaser, renting the property as a private individual would have done, and now it proposes to sell the lands, as any private individual purchaser might have done." In the case of Town of Warrenton v. Warren County, supra, the facts show that the defendant municipality acquired a hotel within its corporate Limits by purchase under a foreclosure sale, in order to protect an investment which had been made in the hotel corporation by the Town of Warrenton. In holding that the provisions of Article V, Section 5 of the State Constitution applied to State or municipal property which is used for a governmental or public purpose, and that the property of the defendant municipality used for business purposes was not exempt from taxation by the county, the Court stated: "The property is neither held for nor used for governmental or necessary public purposes, but purely for business purposes, and in competition with any other hotel that may be established in the town of Warrenton or vicinity. 'If a municipal corporation can go into a rental business and escape taxation, it would have a special privilege not accorded to others who are in a like business.' Board of Financial Control v. Henderson County, supra." Wells v. Housing Authority, supra, involves a "municipal corporation" so nearly akin to appellant in purpose and structure that we consider its holding very persuasive. In that case defendant Housing Authority *481 was created pursuant to Chapter 456 of the Public Laws of 1935 for the purpose of protecting low- income citizens from unsafe or unsanitary conditions by providing for them low cost rental dwellings and apartments. The Court held defendant Housing Authority to be such a "municipal corporation" as is exempt from state, county and municipal taxation by virtue of Article V, Section 5 of the North Carolina Constitution, and that the property held by it for rental purposes was held for a public purpose. It is to be noted that even though income was presumably derived from the rental of the property held by defendant Housing Authority, the property was declared by the Court to be exempt from taxation. The cases cited as controlling authority reached differing results as to whether the tax exemption applied. However, differing results do not necessarily do violence to the rule of law when there are factual differences. The cases of Town of Benson v. Johnston County, supra, and Town of Warrenton v. Warren County, supra, are easily distinguishable. In the instant case the allegations of the complaint show acquisition of property with intent to use for a public purpose, a definite plan evolved for its use for the public, and an actual public use of the property. In Town of Benson v. Johnston County, supra, and Town of Warrenton v. Warren County, supra, neither acquisition with intent to use for public purpose nor a definitely evolved plan for public use was shown. It was shown that the property was held for strictly business purposes. The same distinctions apply between this case and the cases of Atlantic & N. C. R. R. Co. v. Board of Commissioners, supra; Board of Financial Control v. Henderson County, supra, and City of Winston -Salem v. Forsyth County, supra. Conversely, applying the same principles of law to the factual situation of Wells v. Housing Authority, supra, and Mallard v. Eastern Carolina Regional Housing Authority, supra, the Court found that the exemption did apply. A definition of public purpose sufficient to fit all fields of the law and all factual situations is not possible. In Black's Law Dictionary 1394 (4th Ed. 1957), we find the following: https: / /www.courtlistener.com/ opinion / 1246924 /redevelopment - comn -of -high- point- v- guil... 5/18/2018