There's another property tax brewing, and this time Lake County isn't the epicenter.

It's a philosophical battle over the long-standing property tax exemption nonprofits receive.

Valparaiso University and the city have agreed to form an eight-member task force to study the possibility of VU paying an annual fee to cover fire protection costs. Some universities in Indiana already do.

VU has its own police department, but it does not have its own fire department.

City Councilman Art Elwood first presented the idea of tax-exempt entities, of which VU is the city's biggest, paying an annual safety fee to receive protection from the city.

It's an end run against Indiana law that protects nonprofits like VU, local churches and the YMCA from having to pay property taxes.

In Lake County, the big pain homeowners are feeling came from shifting to homeowners some of the disproportionate burden big business was bearing -- taxes so high that industries were being driven away from the county, if not the state.

The idea of a public safety fee for nonprofits has been tossed around the past few years as local governments figure out how to rein in their spending.

Is this revenue source legitimate? Is it in keeping with the property tax exemption nonprofits in Indiana currently receive?

Would their programs or staff bear the brunt? Would some of the nonprofits who would be ordered to pay this new fee collapse under its weight?

Charitable giving is suffering in this economy. People who have been steady givers are cutting back on discretionary spending, including to charity.

Worse, with more people out of work, demand for those services is higher.

VU is insulated from this increased demand for basic services that some other charities face, but it isn't insulated from declines in giving and declining income from its investment portfolio.

As the city-VU task force discusses this safety fee, I suggest it look into the reason nonprofits were exempt from property taxes in the first place. I believe it will find the conservative philosophy that money given directly to charity can do more good than money filtered through the government.

I also suggest the task force examine the ways VU has helped the city. That economic impact -- calculated at nearly $102 million in 2003 -- should not be ignored.

VU also offers numerous benefits to the city.

Without the financial support of VU students -- whether they use the service or not -- would the V-Line bus service have been feasible?

Should the city share VU's cost of offering cultural opportunities to residents, just as VU is being asked to share the cost of supporting the fire department?

This task force's decision, and the City Council's ultimate decision, will affect not only VU but also churches, United Way agencies and other nonprofits.

Its impact will spread outside Valparaiso as the precedent gains recognition throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond.

Don't debate just the size of the fee. Debate the philosophy behind it, too.