FAIRBURY - The Bonham Theatre and Camp Jefferson, two community entities and non-profits in the Fairbury area, will remain property tax exempt, despite objections from the county assessor.

Jefferson County assessor Mary Banahan denied applications for property tax exemption for both the camp and the theatre, saying the institutions do not meet the proper criteria to be property tax exempt.

An establishment must serve an educational, charitable or religious purpose in order to be considered tax exempt. Ron Schwab, who's served on the Camp Jefferson board for over 50 years, said the camp provides facilities for children's summer camps and other events throughout the year.

"Our focus is on providing those facilities," Schwab said. "The Nebraska Supreme Court has held repeatedly that organizations like ours are charitable, as long as individuals are not receiving the proceeds from it."

Camp Jefferson, located about 2.5 miles southeast of Fairbury, is about a 40-acre space with cabins, a dining hall, swimming pool and other recreational facilities.

"Almost every foot of it is used for charitable purposes," Schwab said. "We receive no rent from people when they use it."

Banahan said she was missing some financial information regarding the camp, and needed it by Jan. 31 to submit the application to the sate, but she didn't get the information until Feb. 3, and that's why she recommended that the camp not be tax exempt.

As for the theatre, Banahan has denied the Bonham's tax exemption application the last two years, citing a lack of "educational curriculum" and also a lack of charitable work.

Brooke Schwab, president of the Bonham Theatre project, says the theatre works closely with area schools, churches and other groups to put on dozens of community events every year.

"We have rental fees that are discounted or even free for schools," Schwab said. "We partner a lot with schools, churches and what we do, we feel, meets the charitable criteria (for tax exemption). We're not trying to say we're completely educational. We support a lot of educational activities with the schools."

The state of Nebraska denied a tax exemption application from the Bonham theatre in 2018, but Schwab says that was due to the fact that the theatre had only just opened in fall 2017.

"We're hoping the 2019-20 denial will look differently, because we can prove better to the state that we are a charitable entity," Schwab explained.

Schwab said the theatre put on 53 events in 2019 made possible by over 4,000 hours of volunteer work. The theatre board is also entirely volunteer-based - same as Camp Jefferson's board.

The Jefferson County Board of Equalization voted unanimously Tuesday to grant both the theatre and camp property tax exemption.

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