Tax-Exempt Hospitals Face Payments to Host Towns in New Jersey

  • Bill designed to head off court decision deeming one taxable
  • Nonprofit advocates say the impact could be far-reaching
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New Jersey’s nonprofit hospitals, which have long enjoyed a tax exemption, would have to make payments to their host communities to cover the cost of municipal services under a bipartisan measure making its way through the state legislature.

Lawmakers are responding to a June court ruling which found that the 40-acre Morristown Medical Center owed local property taxes because of “blurred lines” between its nonprofit and for-profit businesses. The 687-bed hospital’s owner agreed in November to pay the town $15.5 million over the next decade.