Court Opinion

ID: 9673322
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:10:04.950677+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:21.591738
License: Public Domain

YETKA, Justice
(dissenting).
I would reverse the tax court. To a certain extent, it can be said that every hospital is used by practicing physicians who perform their duties. Some doctors may elect to have private offices separate and apart from the hospital. Here, the hospital decided to provide clinical facilities for doctors on the hospital premises in order to encourage them to stay in the small rural community. Bear in mind that these facilities are owned and operated by the hospital. The hospital arranges for all equipment and supplies and the billing of the patients. The problem this arrangement sought to solve is one common to many rural Minnesota communities. Springfield and other communities must entice and keep doctors in the remote sections of the state where they are needed. If the local taxing authorities, the local assessor and the local Board of County Commissioners are willing to find that the clinic is exempt from real estate taxes because they are part of a hospital facility, let them do it. Real estate taxes are largely levied and paid locally. Were we to uphold the tax court, it would take very little ingenuity, in my opinion, for the people of Springfield to circumvent the tax court’s ruling. I would not force them to resort to other alternatives.