| 2/23/2009 9:58:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Astronomy society seeks cheaper site
By Mike Potter- The Fairplay Flume
Colorado Springs Astronomical Society members will take their business somewhere other than Park County this summer, group treasurer Al Schlafli, said.
He told The Flume that after more that 20 consecutive summers of pointing their telescopes toward heavenly bodies, the group of 300 celestial observers will move from Pike National Forest land in Park County and onto land it bought this year.
Although the group was planning the move already, what Schlafli considers an unfair tax cemented plans.
The group was charged $6.12 for the week it spent in Pike National Forest by the county for something called "possessory interest."
"This was something that was a complete surprise to us," he said. "It only happened this last summer."
According to the Colorado Division of Property Taxation, possessory interest is "private property interest, in a tax exempt property, or the right to the occupancy and use of any benefit in an exempt property right."
Schlafli said his group had never before been charged the possessory interest tax, although it has used the property at least two decades.
The Colorado Supreme Court decided that as of January 2002, the Colorado Division of Property Taxation would be required to value possessory interest.
Possessory interest value is determined by calculating the discounted net present value of actual lease amounts paid to the tax-exempt property owner. Possessory interest is assessed at 29 percent, and payment of the tax is the responsibility of the tenant.
Dee Lyons, recreational forester with the U.S. Forest Service in Fairplay said the Colorado Springs Astronomical Society obtains a special use permit annually to host the gathering.
She said the group is charged for the permit and other fees for a recreational permit and added the astronomers haven't been any trouble to her.
"They've been great to work with," she said.
Kristy Gould, deputy assessor in the Park County Tax Assessor's Office, said the assessor is notified by the Colorado Division of Property Taxation that a tax bill needs to be sent to a group. She confirmed the group was issued a tax bill.
"They were charged $6.12 for a lease they have with the United States Forest Service," she said.
She added the bill was based upon the amount of rent paid. Gould had no explanation for why the county hadn't previously received notification from the Division of Property Taxation to issue a bill, because the Park County Assessor's office doesn't speak directly with the forest service.
Schlafli said tax for use of the land hasn't been charged in years he's been involved with group.
"We have never known about this charge, nor have we been charged," he said.
In any event, the group won't be back in Park County to gaze at the stars, he said. It bought land to host the numerous telescopes and stargazers.
"It just happens the timeliness of it is such that it all worked out about the same time," he said.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Article comment by:
Ken MacNicol
You have to love the irony of running a story like this one in Salida. A group numbering in the hundreds visits an area a couple days a year to look through their telescopes. They have all day to shop, eat, spend money... in support of the local economy. But then, someone finds out that you can tax them for standing on a piece of dirt and looking up at the night sky. Now they are leaving the area, never to return. It's not the $6 that drove them out, it was the short sightedness of the government. I'm sure they will want equal time to rebute this issue, and likely have a pet project like a swimming pool in need of repair, to justify their efforts. When I first saw the headlines I wanted to offer them Chaffee county hospitality, but was reminded of our own tax everything policies in Salida.
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