A conservative advocacy group building a new headquarters near Bondurant has accused Polk County of denying a key tax exemption for political reasons.
The Family Leader Foundation, a nonprofit Christian group led by prominent activist Bob Vander Plaats, filed suit May 17 against the Polk County Board of Review. The suit concerns a 21-acre plot in rural Bondurant where the group plans to establish an office, event center and possibly an amphitheater, incorporating an existing barn and multipurpose building on the property.
The group already had won rezoning approval for the project, but now says the county has put up a new roadblock. The complaint alleges that the group applied for a property tax exemption, to which it believes it is entitled under state law as a nonprofit religious and charitable organization. The Polk County Assessor’s Office denied the exemption, and the group appealed to the Board of Review, which after what the suit alleges was a “five-minute” hearing rejected its case.
The lawsuit claims not only that the exemption was improperly denied, but that county officials did so to retaliate against the organization’s political views. The Family Leader Foundation is registered as a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit and is associated with The Family Leader, a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” advocacy group that lobbies for restrictions on abortion and other conservative policy goals.
The petition, filed by leading Iowa conservative attorney Alan Ostergren, accuses the county of violation U.S. and Iowa constitutional guarantees to free speech, as well as the Iowa Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Via a spokesperson, the Polk County supervisors and board of appeals both declined to comment.
Liberal groups have been treated differently, Family Leader claims
Ryan Benn, an attorney with The Family Leader, said in a statement that the assessor’s office, led by Polk County Assessor Randy Ripperger, denied the foundation’s tax exemption request because of its association with the 501(c)(4) group’s policy advocacy, a position he said had “no basis in Iowa law.”
“The assessor’s written decision doesn’t specify his reasons,” Benn said. “But that was the reason he gave” the Board of Review during the hearing.
In fact, he said, it’s common for organizations to operate as both 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) entities and to get tax exemptions for property owned by their charitable arms. Both Planned Parenthood and the Des Moines Area Religious Council receive tax exemptions on their Polk County property, Benn said, despite both having robust policy advocacy operations, in many cases on the same issues where The Family Leader advocates, though generally from different viewpoints.
“As far as we are aware, The Family Leader Foundation stands alone in Polk County as the only organization to be denied a property tax exemption because of our views on policy,” he said. “This unfair treatment violates Iowa law and the First Amendment.”
Under Iowa law, county assessor is a nonpartisan position appointed to a six-year term by a conference board made up of representatives of local tax jurisdictions, typically mayors, school board members and county supervisors. Ripperger has served as assessor since 2014 and before that worked for the office for 34 years.
A 2019 bill filed by then-state Sen. Jake Chapman, a Republican, sought to require public retention votes on assessors every four years. It failed to advance.
The conference board also appoints the 10-member board of review.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service, addressing the issue of tax exemptions and political activity, says on its website that federal law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one “which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
However, it says that 501(c)(3) organizations “can engage in a limited amount of lobbying (including ballot measures) and advocate for or against issues that are in the political arena,” so long as they don’t engage in campaigning for or against a candidate.
Vander Plaats has hosted Republican presidential candidates during caucus season at Family Leader forums, and has made endorsements. But in doing so, he has said his endorsements are personal, and not on behalf of the organization.
Lawsuit challenging zoning vote on Family Leader complex is on appeal
The new lawsuit isn’t the first against Polk County over the Bondurant project. Nearby landowners and a nonprofit called 1000 Friends of Iowa sued the Board of Supervisors in 2023, alleging its approval of the project — after a zoning board recommended rejecting it — violated county zoning laws because there are no similar mixed-use projects near the site.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit in July, finding the plaintiffs had not met “heightened pleading requirements” for lawsuits against government entities set by a 2021 law. The case is currently pending on appeal.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.