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Hernando Today

School District's Tax Bill For Hospital: Nearly $1 Million

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: January 16, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Almost a year ago, the school district sent a whopping tax bill for 2006 and 2007 to the company that owns and operates Brooksville and Spring Hill regional hospitals: $986,539.

The response from Health Management Associates Hernando through an attorney: the request for payment is neither "valid nor enforceable."

Now the school board will decide whether to take the matter to court.

School district staffers have asked the board to decide at its next meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20 whether to retain Nabors, Giblin & Nickerson in an effort to collect the back taxes. Paul Carland, the district's attorney, has recommended the board move forward.

The district has a case based on Florida precedence that shows companies using public land for a profit-making purpose are not necessarily exempt from all taxes, attorney Robert Nabors told Carland in a letter sent in September.

Among several cases, Nabors cited one in which the lessee of an auto racetrack in Sebring was not entitled to an exemption.
HMA leases the land underneath the two hospitals and the Pinebrook Medical Center on Cortez Boulevard. The company leases the Brooksville Regional Hospital building itself for $300,000 a year.
HMA also pays a sum in lieu of taxes on all three of the properties of about $272,000.

The Hernando County Property Appraiser's office has deemed the properties are immune to taxation because they are county owned.

Nabors contends HMA must still pay school ad valorem taxes.

An attorney for the Hernando County Property Appraiser's office, which could be named a party in any suit the district brings, sent the district a contradicting opinion stating those cases don't apply.
County attorney Kent Weissinger, said he tends to agree Nabor's citations of case law are "one-sided" and "not on point."

The school district "doesn't have any ownership in the property," Weissinger said.

At least two school board members have indicated they're willing to hire Nabors. The firm would charge $250 per hour for work by principal attorneys, $190 for associates and $50 for clerks.

The payoff could be worth spending money on legal fees, Chairwoman Dianne Bonfield said Thursday, echoing what member Pat Fagan told Hernando Today last week.

"We're talking about a lot of money that could help our schools," Bonfield said. "We need to pursue every avenue."

"The law's a funny animal," she said. "We'll just hope it goes our way."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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