A Downtown Madison Catholic parish doesn’t qualify for a property tax exemption on land where it intends to rebuild a cathedral, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. But a provision quietly tucked into the state budget will soon change that.
The three-judge panel affirmed a 2016 ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Rhonda Lanford that the property failed to meet a requirement for religiously exempt land to be “necessary for (the) location and convenience of buildings” since an arson fire destroyed St. Raphael’s Cathedral in 2005.