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After notice of a $177,000 property tax bill was affixed to its front door, a Dorchester church went to Suffolk Superior Court to challenge an assessment related to a T-Mobile wireless antenna located in its steeple.
The case was dismissed on Monday following a settlement between Global Ministries Christian Church and a wireless carrier. But a consultant on wireless agreements says the Dorchester congregation escaped a financial burden that may be shared by hundreds of property owners in Boston alone.
District 4 City Councilor Brian Worrell brought Global Ministries Christian Church’s plight last year to the attention of Steve Kropper, CEO of AirWave Lease Insights. The Lincoln-based company represents property owners and tenants in financial dealings with wireless carriers.
The disputes typically center on who is responsible for additional property taxes tied to the value of a wireless antenna on a property: the property owner or the wireless company.
“The church is an extreme case. It’s not like an office building where it’s a commingled asset. [The tax bill] is 100-percent due to the cell site: no if’s, and’s or but’s,” said Kropper, who represented the church on a pro bono basis in its dispute.
In 2023, Boston tax officials sent a bill to the Dorchester congregation, located at 670 Washington St., seeking payment for $177,000 in back taxes.
According to a lawsuit filed May 19 in Suffolk Superior Court, the church entered a lease agreement with T-Mobile in 2003 for an antenna in its steeple. In 2008, an affiliate of Boston-based American Tower purchased the right to receive rent from T-Mobile in exchange for a one-time payment to the church of $216,600.
Under the original agreement, T-Mobile agreed to reimburse the church for any personal property or real estate tax stemming from the presence of the wireless transmitter.
Such clauses are standard in wireless agreements, Kropper said, but often overlooked by mom-and-pop landlords or new owners who purchase a property with an existing antenna.
The Dorchester church was unaware of its new tax bill – church properties are tax-exempt – until 2023, when a notice was affixed to its front door requesting payment by the city of Boston. Previously, tax bills had been sent to the wrong address, according to the lawsuit.
Global Ministries Senior Pastor Bruce Wall challenged the assessment in a letter to the Boston Assessing Department and notified T-Mobile and American Tower about their alleged tax obligation. T-Mobile terminated the lease in April 2024 and removed the equipment in October 2024.
T-Mobile “is notorious for failing and refusing to pay taxes accrued as a result of the installation of its telecommunications equipment,” according to the church’s lawsuit filed by Lexington-based law firm Jacobi & Chamberlain LLP on May 19.
On Nov. 5, Jacobi & Chamberlain LLP filed a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice because the two sides had reached a settlement. Rev. Wall and Councillor Worrell did not respond to requests for comment.
While Global Ministries Christian Church may have dodged a major expense, many other property owners may be unwittingly paying extra taxes, AirWave Lease Insights’ Kropper said.
An analysis of Boston property tax records showed that 389 properties currently have wireless transmitters. Approximately 75 percent of leases with major carriers AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have a property tax reimbursement clause, but 95 percent of owners don’t file reimbursement claims, Kropper said.
The average assessment in Boston for properties with cellular installations is $18,091 a year, according to Kropper’s research.
Kropper said he represented Global Ministries Christian Church on a pro bono basis, and now is working with a second Dorchester church that has discovered a similar discrepancy.
“As a business we didn’t charge for that because I want a better room in heaven,” he said.
