City going back at nonprofits
Colleges, hospitals looked at to chip in more funds, despite not owing taxes
Boston will conduct a “full data review” of all the college, medical and nonprofit properties that have been making voluntary payments based on decadeold assessments instead of paying taxes, according to a letter from the city.
The city’s assessing department sent a letter announcing the move to City Councilor Kenzie Bok, chair of the PILOT reform committee, who’d formally requested such a move in August for the payment-inlieu-of-taxes program that’s based on decade-old assessment figures.
“The Assessing Department is presently preparing for a full data review of the exempt real estate holdings of the institutions that participate in the voluntary PILOT program,” Nicholas Ariniello, Boston’s commissioner of assessing, wrote in the letter last week. “We anticipate to complete our data review and to be in a position to provide up to date valuation information for these exempt properties by the end of calendar year 2021.”
The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes — or PILOT — program is a decade-old set of guidelines that lays out a voluntary framework for nonprofit organizations to give the city money and services instead of paying property taxes, which they are not obliged to pay due to their charitable nature. Cities have begun seeking payments from untaxed nonprofits as an acknowledgment of some responsibility to the city or town they exist within. The agreement is essentially toothless — some colleges kick in the entire amount the city asks for, while others give little or nothing, even though the agreements are only based on the likely much lower 2009 valuations of properties.
The city requested a total of $109.1 million from nonprofits across the city in 2019, including schools, cultural institutions and hospitals, receiving $34.2 million in cash. Boston also counts an additional $52.5 million in “community benefits” from the various institutions, though critics have said those are very loosely defined and need another look.
The city in 2019 requested educational institutions to give $57.3 million, according to data, resulting in $14.6 million in cash plus $25.9 credited as community benefits.
Way back at the start of the year — before coronavirus swamped all other business — several councilors were sharpening their swords for a battle over PILOT agreements. The newly elected City Council President Kim Janey used part of her inaugural speech to proclaim that many PILOT-paying institutions have not “done all they can” in contributing to the city.
Janey, of Roxbury, at the time announced she would create a PILOT committee, which is now chaired by
Bok, who represents the Back Bay and Fenway.
“While there is more to do to build on the PILOT’s program success in pursuit of a more equitable Boston, this commitment to revaluation in 2021 is a great step in regard to a key program that supports so many essential city services,” Bok said in a statement.