Anchorage Baptist Temple will be receiving bills totalling around $60,000 this week. The bills are from the Municipality, for back taxes. 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.