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Organization That Protects Separation of Church & State Says Leasing Deal Violates Constitution
By Tina Traster
A national organization that fights to protect the separation of church and state has told the Town of Haverstraw that its latest plan to lease the Knights of Columbus building in the Village of Haverstraw violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits government funding religious practices.
This is the second time Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) has written to Haverstraw Town Attorney to request that the town disentangle itself from the Knights and its building at 56 West Broad Street. Originally FFRF objected to the town’s efforts to take the building through donation; the organization says a workaround leasing deal amounts to the same violations.
“Government funds cannot be given away to religious organizations in order to benefit their religious missions,” wrote FFRF Attorney Samantha F. Lawrence, in a letter dated April 9th to Haverstraw Town Attorney Bill Stein. “We write to ask once again that the Town of Haverstraw cease providing taxpayer funds to support this religious organization and cease any ongoing entanglement with the Knights.”
FFRF’s letter points out that Haverstraw’s latest attempt to lease the building, rather than acquire it through donation, far exceeds a standard rental agreement. The letter also says the leasing agreement is infused with religion by permitting the Knights to display religious artifacts throughout the building, even while the facilities are in use by the town.
“By subsidizing the Knights’ building and infusing Catholic artifacts into the public use of the facility, the Town unconstitutionally entangles itself with religion,” wrote Lawrence.
Further, FFRF calls the leasing agreement “exclusionary,” writing that the deal broadcasts “the message that the Town explicitly favors community members who follow the dominant, preferred religion.”
The attorney’s letter adds, “If the Town wishes to invest in a facility for senior resident to use, it should consider partnering with a secular organization that will not infuse the space with a single preferred faith.”
FFRF is a national nonprofit staffed with attorneys who bring lawsuits throughout the nation in cases like Haverstraw’s. The organization fights to preserve the Constitutional firewall through litigation and advocacy.
RCBJ has obtained a copy of the April 9 letter from FFRF to the Town of Haverstraw.
FFRF, along with several other entities including a public official, the former Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, and King Katherine LLC., an affordable housing developer that had negotiated to buy the building for $2.4 million to build 100 affordable housing units, objected to a ploy orchestrated by Town of Haverstraw Supervisor Howard Phillips to get the Knights to donate their building in exchange for monetary support and use of a small portion of the building in perpetuity. These objectors sent letters to the Attorney General Charities Bureau in 2024 outlining complaints that included violations of the Open Meetings Law, because the deal was originally hatched with a town quorum in secret, misuse of taxpayer money, violation of the separation of church and state, and attempts to prevent the Village of Haverstraw from building direly needed affordable housing. The Knights, a nonprofit, needed approval from the Charities Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office to donate its building to the town.
The Knights will also need approval from the Charities Bureau for the leasing scheme.
While waiting for state approval through the second half of 2024, the town shelled out more than $120,000 to the Knights — $7,000 in monthly stipends, along with monies to cover building repairs and legal fees to file the petition to the Charities Bureau.
In a surprise turnaround, on Feb. 13, Grand Knight Joe Vargas told the Knights’ council the “the deal was off.” He offered no explanation and made vague statements about the town continuing to work with the Knights for their “mutual interests.”
After Vargas announced the deal had been scrapped, RCBJ asked the Attorney General’s office if the petition had been withdrawn. The Attorney General’s spokesperson said no petition was ever filed.
In another grab at retaining power over the Knights of Columbus building, Phillips and the Town of Haverstraw have come up with a plan to lease the building for 25 years, rather than take title through a donation. The proposed leasing arrangement, which was approved by the Town Board last month, includes a one-time payment to the Knights of $20,000, $500 in monthly rental payments, and the absorption of the fraternal order’s expenses, including the Knights’ real estate taxes, insurance premiums, and utilities.
The annual property taxes on the building at 56 West Broad Street in the Village of Haverstraw are more than $30,000.
The Town will also assume the cost of maintenance of the entire building, including plumbing, heating, electric service, HVAC and the building’s roof. Under the lease, the Knights will have use of its office, the rec room and meeting room, and a storage closet.
The Town has also agreed to pay the legal fees and expenses for the Knights to secure approval from the Charities Bureau. During the previous donation effort, the Town paid the Albany-based firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo about $5,000 to prepare the petition that was never filed.
The lease says that the Town will use the Knight’s facility for the Haverstraw Senior Citizens Recreation Program. Phillips, who is a Fourth Degree Knight, but never attends Knights’ meetings, according to sources, has publicly maintained the building was needed for senior activities. Every Town of Haverstraw councilman is a Knight, though not active in the council, according to sources who regularly attend meetings.
In the new lease arrangement, the $500 monthly rent increases in year six to $550 per month, $605 per month in years 10 to 15, and increases 10 percent every five years thereafter. The lease renews automatically every five years, unless the Town terminates it with six months’ notice. The Knights have no ability to opt out of the lease.
“While we acknowledge the Town’s stated purpose of renting the building at 56 West broad Street as providing a location for its seniors, its financial commitments to the Knights of Columbus go far beyond a standard rental agreement.”
The leasing deal could jeopardize the Knights’ tax-exempt status because the lease arrangement effectively turns the Knights into the Town’s landlord, and the income earned from the lease may affect the Knights’ income tax obligations. Even though an organization is recognized as tax-exempt, it still may be liable for tax on its unrelated business taxable income, such as rent, or rent-in-kind.
