UPMC Seeks Exemption from Lock Haven Hospital Real Estate Taxes

LOCK HAVEN— Three Clinton County taxing bodies will be out over a quarter of a million dollars annually if UPMC Susquehanna is successful in gaining tax exempt status for its Lock Haven Hospital.

UPMC Susquehanna Lock Haven purchased Lock Haven Hospital in 2017 from for-profit Quorum Health and has been paying real estate taxes in the interim. But the Williamsport-headquartered institution filed a property value assessment appeal late last week with the Clinton County Assessment Office.

Contacted by therecord-online, UPMC’s Williamsport Communications Manager Tyler Wagner said UPMC is a non-profit health care organization exempt from paying property taxes. He said UPMC has expanded clinical services in Lock Haven, part of what he said was “a long-term investment in delivering high quality health care in Clinton County.” He said UPMC provided $44 million in north-central Pennsylvania “and delivers more care to the region’s poor and underserved than any other health system in the state.”

Records in the assessment office in the Piper Building listed the hospital’s 2019 real estate taxes at $258,324. The Keystone Central School District stands to lose the most, $113,378.67, if the county assessment appeals board grants the hospital request. The City of Lock Haven is to get $72,523.87 this year, Clinton County to receive $72,421.80 but a successful appeal will remove future such payments.

If the county approves the exemption, it would be effective with the 2020 taxing year.

County chief assessor Keith Yearick said the board of assessment, comprised of the three county commissioners or their designees, likely would be hearing the appeal in the near future. September 1 is the deadline for county property owners to file for an appeal.

UPMC had not filed an appeal for its Outpatient Center in McElhattan.