IN BRIEF : YMCA Gets Non-Charitable Ruling

PITTSBURGH — A YMCA should pay taxes because the doctors, lawyers and others who use the facility are not legitimate subjects of charity, a judge ruled.

Allegheny County Judge Ralph Smith Jr. ruled Wednesday that the $7.5-million downtown YMCA does not meet the state’s legal definition of a charity and is not entitled to a tax exemption as a charitable institution.

The ruling could require it to pay more than $200,000 in property taxes a year.

The YMCA said it will appeal.

The YMCA does not have to serve the poor exclusively to be tax-exempt, said Bob Boisture, associate general counsel for the national YMCA in Washington.

Boisture said the Pittsburgh case isn’t viewed as a “major trend-setting case around the country.”

“It’s only one case,” he said. But he added, “We’re not going to lie down and play dead when we get a ruling that says a Y is taxable. We’re going to appeal that and also go to the Legislature.”