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Hall County Board of Equalization April 2, 2016 Page 4 As the Crane Trust explained during the public hearing, the grazing, crop, and hay practices on the Crane Trust's property are part of the Crane Trust's overall effort to protect and maintain critical habitat for Sandhill Cranes, Whooping Cranes, and other migratory birds. The leasing is incidental to the Crane Trust's primary use of the property, which is habitat conservation. "If the lease of the property for agricultural use is incidental to the primary or dominant use, then the property is not subject to taxation." City of York v. York Ctv. Bd. of Equalization, 266 Neb. 311, 664 N,W.2d 456 (2003) (emphasis added); see also Harold Warp Pioneer Vill. Found. v. Ewald, 287 Neb. 19, 844 N.W.2d 245 (2013) (income-generating motel near Pioneer Village was tax exempt because any non-exempt uses of the motel were incidental to the motel's overall purpose of lodging visitors of the Pioneer Village, a charitable entity); Lariat Boys Ranch v. Bd. of Equalization, 181 Neb. 198, 147 N.W.2d 515 (1966) (entire 1,000-acre ranch devoted to rehabilitating troubled youth was tax-exempt even though owner was conducting ranching business on the vast majority of the property and only 5-10 acres of the land was dedicated to housing the youth). The Crane Trust's leased property does not become taxable just because it is leased. See City of York, Harold Warp, Lariat Boys. The grazing, crop, and haying practices are part of the Crane Trust's overall land management program to serve its charitable purpose of protecting the cranes and other migratory birds. The lease agreements are incidental to the Crane Trust's predominant use of the land for charitable and educational purposes. The 13 parcels are completely tax exempt, even though they will be under grazing and/or crop leases in 2016. The hunting contract also does not alter the tax-exempt status of Parcels 400229552 and 400229609. Even if hunting on these two parcels is not an exempt use of the parcels, such hunting is only incidental to the Crane Trust's habitat management and conservation practices, which is the dominant use of these two parcels. As the Supreme Court ruled in Harold Warp, even when property is used for non-exempt purposes, it is still tax-exempt if the primary use of the property is for charitable or educational purposes. IV. CONCLUSION The law allows the Crane Trust to request and receive tax exemption on all 32 of its parcels in Hall County. The fact that the Crane Trust leases a portion of its property for agricultural purposes does not make those portions taxable. City of York, Harold Warp, Lariat Boys. The Crane Trust requests that the Board grant all 32 of its tax exemption applications. Thank you for your time and consideration.