Colleges in Boston fall short of full payment for municipal services
Many colleges in Boston have failed to pay the full amounts requested by the city to help cover municipal services over the past four years, The Boston Globereports.The five-year-old program asks non-profits with more than $15 million worth of tax-exempt property in the city to make voluntary contributions in lieu of taxes. The money goes towards city services including snow removal and the cost of fire and police protection.None of the colleges with the most valuable real estate paid the full amount requested by the city through the Payment in Lieu of Tax program, according to the Globe. Under the program, schools can fulfill up to half of the requested amount with a credit for demonstrated “community benefits.” Officials at some colleges argue that their schools should be given more credit for providing community benefits and that the program was designed to be voluntary, according to the Globe. But City Councilor Josh Zakim told the Globe the calculations by that city already takes into account the benefits provided by the institutions. “It’s disappointing,” Zakim told the paper. “Obviously, I think these colleges are an asset and a benefit to the city, but they also have an impact on the neighborhoods around them.”Harvard was among the schools that did not pay the full amount the city asked for. The city requested $5.8 million in 2016, and the university paid $3.2 million. “Harvard seeks to strike an appropriate balance between taxes, voluntary payments in lieu of taxes and funding direct mission related programming in our neighborhoods,” university spokeswoman Brigid O’Rourke said in a statement to the Globe.Read the full Globe report here.
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