A bill introduced in the Iowa House would ensure a politically influential evangelical Christian group that’s building a new campus near Bondurant doesn’t have to pay property taxes on the nearly 20 acre site.
The Family Leader Foundation is suing Polk County officials who refused to rezone the 21 acres of farmland. Representative Bill Gustoff, a Republican from Des Moines who is an attorney, said he’s successfully handled similar cases and the bill adds clarity to the state law that grants a property tax exemption to religious institutions and religious societies.
“County assessors are trying to determine what, on an ad hoc and a case by case basis, on what a religious society is or what a (religious) institutions is,” Gustoff said, “so you’re getting a patchwork of decisions, sometimes even within a county.”…