1923 Preservation Foundation
Seeks Tax Exemption

By Gordon HopkinsPortions of the Fairbury 23 Apartments are not eligible for tax exemption. That is according to Jefferson County Assessor Mary Banahan. However, Banahan also pointed out that the owner of the building is not paying taxes on those portions of the building, anyway. Fairbury 23 Apartments hosts alumni rooms. Mary K. Bedlan, a member of the 1923 Preservation Foundation Board, told Banahan, “The two alumni rooms that we do have tells us all of the memorabilia that graduates have donated back to the high school or to the 1923 building foundation.”In addition, several trophy cases along the hallways display memorabilia of the achievements of former students, some of whom now occupy apartments in the building. This was the basis for a request for tax exemption, “I think its use arguably meets the social benefit test for exemption. In short, I think a good case could be made for a partial exemption from taxes on the space in the 23 Building that has been set aside for the foundation and for the general public.”Banahan said those portions of the build did not meet the requirements for tax exemption as the owner of the building is not a charitable organization. However, Banahan also noted, “I will tell you that right now, we have the building, when we set the value of that, it is based solely on apartments. We did not put value for the meeting room or the museums room or the hallways. Which is what we do to other apartment buildings in this county, also. So the value on this thing is not collected.”Bedlan asked, “So you're trying to say that it already is exempt?”Banahan said, “Pretty much. It doesn't have that designation, but we assign it no value.”

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