Case Title: Hopkinton Scout Leaders Assn. v Town of Guilford

Citation: 176 Vt. 577, 2004 VT 2, 844 A.2d 753

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 2004-01-14T00:00:00Z

Document:
Hopkinton Scout Leaders Assn. v Town of Guilford (2003-140); 176 Vt. 577;
844 A.2d 753

2004 VT 2

[Filed 14-Jan-2004]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                                  2004 VT 2

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2003-140

                             OCTOBER TERM, 2003

  Hopkinton Scout Leaders Association 	}	APPEALED FROM:
                                        }
                                        }
       v.	                        }	Windham Superior Court
                                        }	
  Town of Guilford	                }
                                        }	DOCKET NO. 150-03/479-10-02Wmcv

                                                Trial Judge: Geoffrey Crawford

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       ¶  1.  The Town of Guilford appeals from summary judgment in favor
  of appellee Hopkinton Scout Leaders Association, Inc. (HSLA), asserting
  that the trial court erred in its determination that HSLA's property is
  exempt from real estate taxes. The Town argues that the trial court
  misconstrued 32 V.S.A. § 3802(2) by extending its application to a scouting
  organization not chartered by act of the Congress of the United States.  We
  agree and therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings.

       ¶  2.  HSLA is a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation with the stated
  purpose "to promote scouting programs within the town of Hopkinton through
  the administration of the assets, both real property and financial, of the
  corporation wherever these assets may be located."  The association
  operates as an umbrella organization that manages joint property and
  promotes scouting activities for the benefit of its members, who are
  officially-sanctioned scouting groups from Hopkinton, Massachussets.  HSLA
  owns a property of about 214 acres and several buildings in Guilford, which
  has been used for scouting activities.

       ¶  3.  In March, 2002,  HSLA filed a declaratory judgment action
  seeking a determination that its Guilford property was tax exempt pursuant
  to 32 V.S.A. § 3802(2) and/or 32 V.S.A. § 3802(4).  In July, 2002, HSLA
  also grieved its taxes to the Guilford Board of Civil Authority.  The Board
  denied the grievance and indicated that it did not have jurisdiction to
  determine whether the HSLA's property was tax exempt.  That decision was
  appealed to the Windham Superior Court and the appeal was consolidated with
  the underlying declaratory judgment action.  In February, 2003, the Windham
  Superior Court granted summary judgment in favor of HSLA holding that it
  was tax exempt under 32 V.S.A. § 3802(2).   This appeal followed.

       ¶  4.  Appellant first argues that the trial court erred in its
  construction and interpretation of  32 V.S.A. § 3802(2).  The court -
  finding no policy reasons to distinguish between scout groups chartered by
  an act of Congress and corporations such as HSLA - determined that the
  purpose of the statute is to grant tax exemptions for property owned and
  used by scouting organizations.  Although the statute explicitly extends
  the exemption to corporations formed by individual members of veterans
  organizations, but does not do so for scout groups, the trial court
  construed the omission as a reflection of the legislature's lack of
  anticipation that umbrella corporations could be created among scout
  troops.  We disagree.
                 
       ¶  5.  Reviewing the trial court's construction of the statute is a
  question of law, and therefore "our review is nondeferential and plenary." 
  State v. Koch, 169 Vt. 109, 112,