Mayo Clinic Health System Files Lawsuit Against City of Eau Claire

Mayo Clinic Health System-Northwest Wisconsin Region has filed a lawsuit against the City of Eau Claire, claiming unlawful assessed taxes.

According to the complaint, Mayo Clinic is arguing that because the organization is a nonprofit, the taxes assessed against them are unlawful. They’re seeking over $1 million in real estate taxes and nearly $50,000 in personal property taxes.

The lawsuit involves seven properties around Eau Claire as follows: 1221 Whipple Street, 1506 Whipple Street, 575 Cameron Street, 600 Randall Street, 1502 Bollinger Street, 1506 Babcock Street, and 1521 Babcock Street. Mayo Clinic claims that they requested a property tax exemption on each of those locations, and all seven were denied by the City of Eau Claire.

According to a WQOW report, city attorney Stephen Nick says the tax exemption only applies to the hospital portions of Mayo Clinic’s properties, not office or commercial space. Nick also says clinical and medical office buildings do not qualify for the same tax exemption as the hospital properties, and that the organization had received proper partial exemptions both this year and in the past.

Some of the properties cited in the lawsuit are just parking lots, which Mayo Clinic claims are a reasonable necessity to the efficient functioning of the hospital as an organization and aren’t for commercial purposes.

The City of Eau Claire has not yet been served with the lawsuit. City attorney Nick also expressed his disappointment that Mayo Clinic had chosen to file the lawsuit without speaking with the City beforehand.