Officials in Texas are revoking the property tax exemption granted to an Arkansas congressional candidate's charitable organization, the Galveston Central Appraisal District said.
Unless the nonprofit group successfully appeals, Randy Caldwell Ministries will have to pay taxes on the house it owns in League City, Texas, southeast of Houston.
The ministry's president is the Rev. Randall "Randy" Caldwell, a Pentecostal evangelist who said he had a Garland County residence when he registered to vote and filed in February as a Republican candidate for the 4th Congressional District.
Caldwell, on the ministry's website, said his ministry is based in Cabot and he lives in Hot Springs, although his filing papers list an address in Hot Springs Village.
The Texas property, where Caldwell is also registered to vote, is nearly 500 miles from the three Arkansas communities.
Located in a gated community, the 4,405-square-foot, two-story house on Oak Creek Court comes with a carport and a 630-square-foot detached garage, tax records show.
It is currently valued at $403,480, appraisal records show. Without exemptions, the property tax bill for 2017 would have been $10,155.19, officials stated.
Caldwell purchased the Texas house in 2003, and fell behind on his taxes within 18 months, county records show.
By the time a loan company, Tax Ease Funding LP, helped him pay the debt in August or September 2005, Caldwell owed $2,443.72 in delinquent taxes, penalties and interest to Galveston County; another $2,410.25 to League City; and $6,675.98 to the Clear Creek Independent School District, according to records filed with the Galveston County clerk.
In 2008, it was identified as Randy Caldwell Ministries' "clergy residence" and became tax-free, according to records obtained from the appraisal district.
Under Texas Property Tax Code section 11.20, a ministry can claim an exemption for a clergy residence if is "owned by the religious organization and is reasonably necessary for use as a residence." In order to qualify, it must be "used exclusively as a residence for those individuals whose principal occupation is to serve in the clergy of the religious organization."
Officials at the appraisal district re-examined the exemption in April after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette inquired about the house's status.
"The property has been sent a removal of the exemption. As with all removals they have a 30 day timeframe to protest the district's decision and provide evidence to support their case if they choose to," wrote Jessica Banis, an aide to chief appraiser Tommy Watson, in an email.
Galveston County election officials have also written Caldwell and his wife, Lisa Renee, asking them about their League City voter status.
In addition to the League City location, Caldwell has other houses as well, campaign volunteer the Rev. Steve McCuin said in March. McCuin said at the time that he hadn't been authorized to reveal the locations.
Monday, McCuin said he was no longer able to speak for the campaign. He suggested calling the phone number on the campaign's website to get a message to Caldwell. But McCuin was the one who picked up the phone when that number was called.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sent emails last week and Monday to Caldwell's campaign and personal email addresses seeking comment, a list of the ministry's board of directors and IRS-related documents that nonprofit organizations are required to make available for public inspection at their principal office. The newspaper also requested information about the Caldwell campaign's contributions received and expenditures made through the first three months of the year.
The campaign financial information was supposed to be filed with the Federal Election Commission by April 15 and is a public record; an FEC official said Monday the agency never received the quarterly report from the Caldwell campaign.
The campaign and Caldwell never addressed the requests for the FEC data or the IRS records; the paper has obtained some of the IRS documents with the help of Guidestar, an organization that tracks nonprofit organization's financial records.
Caldwell's campaign responded in an email last Wednesday, saying: "Please see the letter we previously sent your editor. Due to your unethical actions, we will not comment for any story you write until our concerns with your behavior are addressed." Caldwell's campaign complained earlier about a visit that a reporter paid to the League City house, which was identified in IRS documents as the ministry's address and the place where its "books and records" are kept.
The address is listed in the section labeled "disclosure" that discusses records that are "available for public inspection."
Caldwell told an Arkansas congregation that it's inappropriate to ask questions about "the houses that God has given me."
"If you weren't there then, when me and that woman had four babies in a 27-foot travel trailer sleeping on the floor for two winters and I didn't have enough money to fix the heater motor and I had to get up in the middle of the night and turn on the cook stove to keep my family warm, if you weren't there then you've got nothing to say about where I'm at right now," Caldwell told worshippers at Mena First Assembly of God on April 22, according to video posted online by the Mena church.
Appearing at Edgewater Church in League City on April 15, he portrayed his houses as a sign of divine favor, telling worshippers: "I will make no apologies to you for the blessings of God in my life."
Those talking about his houses should "shut up [about] where I am right now because you've got nothing I want to hear," Caldwell said, according to audio posted at the church's website.
Caldwell's opponent in the May 22 Republican primary, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs, declined Monday to discuss the Texas property.
"We're not going to comment," said Darbie Kuykendall, Westerman's campaign manager.
In an interview, Galveston County's tax assessor-collector, Cheryl E. Johnson, said she's surprised that an Arkansas-based minister with an Arkansas-based ministry would claim a clergy residence tax exemption in her community, especially if he's running for Congress.
"If everybody who wasn't entitled to an exemption had this type of exemption on the property, we would be in dire straits," the Texas Republican said.
"I have no problem with somebody gaining riches through their own efforts. But I do have a problem with them making money and hiding it behind the cloth," she said. "That's my moral compass versus his moral compass."
Metro on 05/01/2018