Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tax Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Middletown council rejects ordinance to exempt property leased to Middletown Youth Soccer from taxation
Summary
The Common Council voted down Ordinance 02-26, which would have created an annual exemption for property leased to Middletown Youth Soccer; supporters said it codified past practice but the measure failed on a 5–6 roll-call vote with one absence.
The Middletown Common Council voted down Ordinance 02-26 on Feb. 2, 2026, a proposal to add a property-tax exemption for real and personal property leased to Middletown Youth Soccer Inc., with the council tallying five ayes, six nays and one absence, causing the ordinance to fail.
Proponents said the ordinance was intended to codify what they described as a longstanding, practical exemption for youth-soccer facilities. "Middletown Youth Soccer has been around for quite some time ... they have been a great resource to all of our children," Councilman Darnell Ford said when he moved approval, urging colleagues to vote in favor.
Under the ordinance language read into the record, the exemption would be available only if the leased property is used "exclusively and entirely" for Middletown Youth Soccer Incorporated, and an annual application must be filed with the Middletown assessor by Sept. 30. The draft also allowed the assessor to remove the exemption if the organization failed to retain its IRS 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status or failed to use the property for the stated purpose.
Opponents argued in roll-call discussion and during voting that the measure required additional scrutiny; the clerk recorded the roll call that produced the 5–6 result. Because the ordinance failed on the council floor, the exemption will not take effect and proponents said they will consider whether to reintroduce revised language at a future meeting.
The council took up the ordinance following presentations and other agenda business; no immediate amendments were adopted after the vote. The meeting record shows the motion was moved and seconded for the council to vote on the ordinance.
