Anchorage Baptist Temple will be receiving bills totalling around $60,000 this week. The bills are from the Municipality, for back taxes. Â The Municipality’s Chief Financial Officer, Lucinda Mahoney, says the Assessor investigated 14 homes claimed as exempt by the church.
“We concluded that two of the 14 properties that we reviewed were subject to  removal of the property tax exemption. What that means for ABT is that they will be sending them a tax bill for the past six years where those properties were exempt,” Mahoney said.
Those two properties were the residences of Ministers Tom Cobaugh and Allen Prevo. Allen Prevo is the son of Anchorage Baptist Temple Pastor Dr. Jerry Prevo. Mohoney says there were side contracts between the church and the ministers, allowing those ministers to gain personal equity. Those contracts, the assessor ruled, disqualify the homes from exemption. In order for a home to be exempt, it must be used exclusively by the religious organization. The church can appeal the the Assessor’s Decision and the Assessed value of the properties. Anchorage Baptist Temple was contacted for this story but did not return calls by deadline.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
