Northeastern University Pays Portion of Requested PILOT

According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, “Northeastern University recently retroactively paid the city of Boston $886,000 to help cover the costs of municipal services after the school faced criticism for failing to give anything this past fiscal year.”  The Globe further reports that the city had requested $2.5 million, and that the letter accompanying the lesser payment states that it “should not be construed as support or commitment to the PILOT formula, so much as it reflects our willingness to work with your administration to arrive at a financial number that properly reflects Northeastern’s relationships with the city.”

The story sets forth additional facts that provide context to the Boston PILOT program:

Fifteen of the 19 colleges [owning highly appraised property in Boston], including the city’s wealthiest universities, did not pay the amounts requested by the city during fiscal 2014.

 

The amounts the city requests are based on the total assessed value of tax-exempt properties owned by the nonprofits. Northeastern has been criticized sharply for failing to pay what the city requests despite its large size. The university owns about $1.3 billion worth of tax-exempt property in Boston, which is the third most of any college in the city.

 

Boston University owns $2 billion worth of tax-exempt property and last fiscal year paid the city about $6 million, about $500,000 less than the city requested. Harvard, while based in Cambridge, owns about $1.5 billion worth of tax-exempt property in Boston and paid the city $2.2 million, while the city requested about $4.3 million.

Northeastern, reports the Globe, already pays the city more than $2 million annually in property taxes, and has stated that it not only provides annual community benefits exceeding $28 million, but also has committed millions to improve a nearby city park.

JRB