Board rules against Mahoning County on Oakhill taxes

The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals has upheld a ruling by William Wilkins, state tax commissioner, that Oakhill Renaissance Place didn’t qualify for a real estate tax exemption before Mahoning County bought the former hospital.

The commission ruled Tuesday that Oakhill’s previous owner, the Southside Community Development Corp., did not qualify for an exemption because “the property was not used exclusively for a charitable purpose.”

Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center, which the county bought in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2006 after SCDC filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy. Under SCDC ownership, Oakhill had a mixture of for-profit and non-profit and government agency occupants.

When the county bought Oakhill, the real estate tax bill from prior years had accumulated to $421,000.

The appeal was filed by bankruptcy trustee Andrew Suhar; and the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the county lacked the authority to intervene or step into SCDC’s shoes because it didn’t own the property during the period of disputed taxes.

“We still are optimistic that we’re going to resolve this to the favor of the county,” said county Administrator George J. Tablack.