The Carbon County Board of Assessment Appeals has granted tax-exempt status to a company that is developing the former St. Ann's School in Lansford as subsidized housing.

The ruling, announced Thursday, frees Catholic Senior Housing Development and Management from paying property taxes on the land beneath the school, which has a taxable value of $4,850.Without the exemption, the developers would have paid property tax bills of $270 to the Panther Valley School District, $142.64 to the borough and $33.44 to the county.The board granted the request because the $3 million project "is a full-fledged Catholic charity," said board member Dwight Penberth.The federal office of Housing and Urban Development is contributing $2.5 million of the cost.Member Tom McCall said the developers have been granted a 501c6 nonprofit tax status.Catholic Senior Housing is converting the former school, at 30 E. Bertsch St., into 17 apartments for low income people who are at least 62 years old, who would pay up to 30 percent of their incomes in rent.The developers have yet to challenge the assessment on the school building, which it has gutted and is renovating.The project is expected to be finished by fall.