Portland, Maine, has revoked or denied tax exemptions for nearly 20 nonprofits, and two will ask lawmakers for a fix
The city's assessors say a heritage center in a former church and the state's public broadcaster do not fit the narrow legal meaning of charitable. The Maine Irish Heritage Center owes $44,000; Maine Public's bill is nearly $100,000 a year.
Portland. Assessors in Portland, Maine, have revoked or denied property tax exemptions for nearly 20 nonprofits over the last year and a half, WGME reported on Oct. 15, and two of the organizations affected now plan to ask state lawmakers to write arts and culture into the law that decides who qualifies.
The Maine Irish Heritage Center, which owns the former St. Dominic's Catholic Church on Gray Street, lost the exemption it had held for two decades. Eric Brown, its executive director, delivered a check for $22,000 to City Hall this week, half of the year's bill, with the words "filed under protest" on the memo line, the Portland Press Herald reported. He told WGME the $44,000 the center owes is 20 percent of its operating budget. The building is assessed at $3.5 million.
What the assessor decided
Under Title 36, Section 652 of the Maine statutes, property owned and used by incorporated benevolent and charitable institutions is exempt, provided the organization is run exclusively for those purposes. After the center reapplied this spring, the assessor answered in 23 pages that it does not meet the definition. "The applicant's activities may be 'charitable' in a broad sense of the word, but not within the legal meaning of the charitable exemption statute," the decision states, according to the Press Herald. The assessor also found that the building is not a public building and is used for private functions through rentals and events.
City staff have said the revocations do not reflect a change in policy, the Press Herald reported, and that more assessing staff now lets the city review applications more thoroughly. Municipal assessors in Maine act as agents of the state but decide exemptions locally.
Maine Public, the state's public broadcaster, was denied an exemption in August for its new headquarters in the former Portland Public Market building on Cumberland Avenue, its fourth attempt in Portland. Its annual bill there is now nearly $100,000, WGME reported. The broadcaster holds an exemption in Bangor.
A bill for next session
Mr. Brown said the assessor relies on a definition of "charitable" drawn from an 1867 Massachusetts case. He and Maine Public plan to ask the Legislature to amend the statute so that it expressly covers arts, culture and heritage organizations. A bill along those lines did not move forward this spring; Mr. Brown said he hopes a new version can advance in the next session.
“The tax bill is annoying and we think inappropriate. But it won't drive us out of business like it might for other nonprofits in Portland.”
About this story
501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Oct. 17, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.
Found an error? Write to [email protected] and we will correct it.