The Don Roberts Beauty School succeeded Thursday in renewing its tax exempt status with the county.
The Porter County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals voted 2-1 to grant the tax exemption after determining the business qualified as a trade school.
The lone vote of dissent was cast by PTABOA member Nick Sommer, who voiced concern about the business making profit by having students directed to it from area high schools.
Company President Barbara Roberts told the board that at least 60 percent of her students attend area high schools.
The high schools pay about half of the standard $17,000 tuition for the year-and-a-half-long program, she said.
PTABOA member Joe Wszolek said the schools would likely have to provide the education themselves if the Don Roberts program was not available.
Roberts said the school has been in existence since 1970, but only learned of and secured the tax exemption around 2008.
The PTABOA had to decide not only if the school qualified for an exemption, but also whether it would be as a trade school or under the education section of the statute.
