Opinion

Wesley United Methodist Church v. Dauphin County Board of Assessment Appeals

844 A.2d 57
2004 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 154

Court: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
Filed: Mar 4, 2004
Status: Published
Author: Simpson
On the bench: Colins, McGinley, Smith-Ribner, Pellegrini, Friedman, Cohn, Simpson
Cited by: 2 cases
Authority: More cited than 9.0%

The opinion

DISSENTING OPINION BY

Judge SIMPSON.

I respectfully dissent. I would reverse based on Second Church of Christ Scientist v. City of Philadelphia, 398 Pa. 65 , 157 A.2d 54 (1959), in which our Supreme Court clearly held that a church parking lot is taxable because it is not an actual locus of worship, as required then and now by the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The majority decision, while thoughtful, departs from established precedent. As an intermediate appellate court, we should strive for predictability. We should leave to our Supreme Court the choice to revisit the limiting language in Article VIII, Section 2(a) of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Judge PELLEGRINI joins in this dissent.

Judge COHN joins in this dissent.

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