Greg Kelm, who heads the Boone County Veterans' Club, has been arguing with the Boone County Health Department since 2008, when he applied for a food service permit and requested a nonprofit exemption from the fee charged to for-profit restaurants. The department refused to give his club the exemption, as it has continued to do to this day.
Kelm says that's not fair, noting that while the veterans' club has to pay $470 for a yearly food service license, the American Legion post has to pay only $20. Both are nonprofit corporations under federal tax law.
On Feb. 10, he wrote to the Boone County Board's Health and Human Services Committee, reminding the panel that the county's code says "bonafide not-for-profit agencies and organizations which operate food service establishments are subject to the permitting, inspection and other requirements of this Code with the exception of the payment of permit fees."
Why the discrepancy? Well the Internal Revenue Service has 31 kinds of nonprofit corporations under its 501 classification. The Veterans' Club is a 501(c)7 corporation, while the Legion post is a 501(c)3. The Health Department decided several years ago that the only nonprofits to get a food service fee waiver would be 501(c)3 corporations. Churches are 501(c)3s. All other nonprofits would have to pay the same fee that is charged to for-profit restaurants.
The problem is, that's not what the county code says. Kelm says the Health Department can't decide arbitrarily which nonprofits can have exemptions and which can't.
"I went to the Health Board meeting on Feb. 1 and said, 'Quit beating the little guys up. Leave the not-for-profits alone,' " Kelm told me Friday. He plans on going back to the Health Board at the Feb. 29 meeting.
He pointed out the absurdity of the Legion paying $20 and the Veterans' Club paying $470 for doing the same things: "We have breakfasts, they have breakfasts. We have fish fries, they have chicken dinners. The county can't choose which 501s are tax-exempt and which aren't. Our fees to the Health Department have gone up 522 percent over the last 10 years."
Well, it turns out that Cindy Frank, administrator of the Boone County Health Department for the past four years, recognizes the problem she inherited and agrees that it should be resolved. At this point she isn't sure how.
"Our county code states that not-for-profits were not to be charged (the regular rate for food service permits), but they never clarified what nonprofits were to be exempt," she said.
But because the county code is not explicit, the Health Department doesn't have the authority to decide who does and who doesn't get an exemption.
"Mr. Kelm is going to come back and talk to us about that. I'm not sure where we go from here," Frank said.
The food service fee exemption is something that only Boone County and one other in Illinois offer to nonprofits, Frank said.
Some County Board members want to make all nonprofits pay the full fee, said County Board member Cathy Ward. A measure to do that was voted down in November by the County Board. Ward believes all nonprofits should receive the food service fee exemption.
But Frank countered that "if we give food permit exemptions to all not-for-profits, we just can't afford it."
The administrator said that nonprofits require inspections, the same as restaurants. "If there's an incident, we have to investigate. The risk is higher. What we want to do is educate people," she said.
Kelm is asking Boone County for repayment of $1,260. That's the cost of the Veterans' Club's food service permits for the past three years. Think he'll get it?
Chuck Sweeny: 815-987-1366; csweeny@rrstar.com; @chucksweeny
Above is from: http://www.rrstar.com/article/20160219/NEWS/160219441/0/SEARCH?template=printart
1 comment:
Ms Franks nor the Boone County Health Department should have a choice. They should be made to follow the County code and the derective of the Boone County Boards directive
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