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Post by Tom on Jan 18, 2023 9:00:19 GMT -5
I might delete this if it turns too political, but it might be interesting to HC people
Last night the Worcester City Council directed the city manager to review properties purchased by the colleges in the city and the tax status of those properties and also to look into ways to make the colleges pay back into the city.
Obviously, I'm more familiar with Holy Cross than the other schools, but I am not aware of the other city schools buying lots of property. WPI has a business park near near I-290, but that might be on the tax rolls. (I'm too lazy to check)
As of 10 or 15 years ago, Clark and WPI were donating money to the city coffers. UMass is a combination hospital and school, but after them I think Holy Cross is the biggest school not donating money to the city. I suspect all the properties that HC has bought is the reason behind this research project
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Post by Wormtown Railers Fan on Jan 18, 2023 9:32:02 GMT -5
Not sure why colleges are being targeted. It’s a problem with all not for profit institutions, especially social service agencies.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 18, 2023 9:47:43 GMT -5
Not sure why colleges are being targeted. It’s a problem with all not for profit institutions, especially social service agencies. High profile institutions who own a lot of property and buildings and who may have big endowments |
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jan 18, 2023 10:11:27 GMT -5
This an old issue, and politicians sometimes see it as a good way appear as if they're working on behalf of their constituents. IIRC HC, like many colleges and universities, makes an annual payment in lieu of taxes. Most likely it's a lot less than what the taxes would be. HC can also argue that it provides significant benefit, economically and otherwise, to the city.
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Post by Tom on Jan 18, 2023 11:32:34 GMT -5
This an old issue, and politicians sometimes see it as a good way appear as if they're working on behalf of their constituents. IIRC HC, like many colleges and universities, makes an annual payment in lieu of taxes. Most likely it's a lot less than what the taxes would be. HC can also argue that it provides significant benefit, economically and otherwise, to the city. To the best of my knowledge only WPI and Clark are making an payment in lieu of taxes. At some president's dinner it was explicitly said HC was not making payments, although he also said HC was writing decent checks to the city for special services. For example at the time, HC was hiring a Worcester police officer on a pay detail on Saturday nights to patrol areas of off campus housing (where HC public safety had no legal authority) to placate the neighbors when things got a little rowdy. Also lots of fees for building permits etc with all the construction. But, no PILOT payments |
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 18, 2023 11:38:19 GMT -5
Didn't HC also gift to the city the land for a new fire station?
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 18, 2023 11:44:34 GMT -5
When it comes to a town collecting from colleges, it is typically "what have you done for us lately?"
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 23, 2023 2:20:28 GMT -5
Didn't HC also gift to the city the land for a new fire station? Yes. The lot looks like it is carved out of a cliff on McKeon Rd. It gives HC a station nearby and helped the city. |
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 23, 2023 2:28:24 GMT -5
When it comes to a town collecting from colleges, it is typically "what have you done for us lately?" My understanding also is that Holy Cross said no to an outright payment in lieu of taxes. You'd be more likely to see a Jesuit pick up a dinner check than to get Holy Cross to pay straight cash (homey)🙂 to the city. Any city that can afford a $159 million sheet metal ball park doesn't need handouts from non-profits doing God's work. |
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 23, 2023 6:29:00 GMT -5
😂 I never even thought to ask my Jesuit friends to pick up the check for lunches or dinners assuming their vow of poverty left moths inside their wallets.
I think the PawSox were rendered homeless due to lack of support by folks like rf1 and in an act of charity, the city of Worcester adopted them and built them a home and even were kind enough to give them their name as adoptive parents do - WooSox. Is my memory off?
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Post by Tom on Jan 25, 2023 15:48:49 GMT -5
When it comes to a town collecting from colleges, it is typically "what have you done for us lately?" My understanding also is that Holy Cross said no to an outright payment in lieu of taxes. You'd be more likely to see a Jesuit pick up a dinner check than to get Holy Cross to pay straight cash (homey)🙂 to the city. Any city that can afford a $159 million sheet metal ball park doesn't need handouts from non-profits doing God's work. You go to the wrong restaurants. They were always happy to pick up the tab if they invited you to the Jesuit dining room |
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jan 25, 2023 16:28:10 GMT -5
Speaking of the Jesuits and picking up tabs my wife grew up in Bronxville, in Westchester County, and they had an elderly family friend whose late husband went to HC (probably graduated in the 1930's or thereabouts) and was reportedly very generous to HC. From time to time the wife would say that "her boys" were coming to the city for the weekend, her boys being Jesuits from HC. She would take them to some of the best restaurants in NYC, museums, etc. She enjoyed their company and they hers, and of course they didn't have to spend a dime. I always thought it kind of charming how she adopted her late husband's love for HC.
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 25, 2023 16:52:08 GMT -5
My understanding also is that Holy Cross said no to an outright payment in lieu of taxes. You'd be more likely to see a Jesuit pick up a dinner check than to get Holy Cross to pay straight cash (homey)🙂 to the city. Any city that can afford a $159 million sheet metal ball park doesn't need handouts from non-profits doing God's work. You go to the wrong restaurants. They were always happy to pick up the tab if they invited you to the Jesuit dining room Never had the honor of being invited. The closest I came was a stay in the infirmary when it was in the same building as the Jesuit residence. The student patients probably got the mistakes from the Jesuit dining room. I was in for an illness in the same room as the blind student who got hit by a car crossing College St. Don't remember his name but he was a great guy. I ran into Father O'Halloran at the Sahara Restaurant on Highland St. in Worcester many years ago. He was at a table with a group of lay people and I stopped by to say hi. The check came and one of his companions joked "do you want to take care of this Father?" I thought Fr. O'Halloran was going to split a gut laughing.😂 |
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 25, 2023 17:30:07 GMT -5
Steve Possell '70?
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Post by longsuffering on Jan 26, 2023 21:17:05 GMT -5
No, I would have just missed him, and you at HC like ships passing in the night.
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Post by hc6774 on Jan 29, 2023 9:08:26 GMT -5
During my time in Worcester 40+ yrs, the relationship was heavily influenced by a Jesuit. Majors efforts; SPUD, the Worcester Consortium, Art Museum, Library bookmobile. Hanover Theater, Nativity school... all avoided the PILOT issue & tended to appeal to community elites?
With PVR, it may be a changing/evolving relationship e.g. Polar Park.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jan 29, 2023 12:31:56 GMT -5
I went to HC, and later worked at a law firm in Worcester and then years later lived in Worcester for several years. I've met and still know a lot of people from Worcester. Take this for what it's worth, but in my experience many people in the city look at HC as a generally benign presence and often as a source of pride. I don't think the town/gown tensions are that big (although HC should always be sensitive to any tension), and even the low grade grousing (e.g. the Assumption grad I met who referred to HC as "the snobs on the hill") is pretty muted.
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Post by Tom on Jan 29, 2023 21:44:54 GMT -5
During my time in Worcester 40+ yrs, the relationship was heavily influenced by a Jesuit. Majors efforts; SPUD, the Worcester Consortium, Art Museum, Library bookmobile. Hanover Theater, Nativity school... all avoided the PILOT issue & tended to appeal to community elites? With PVR, it may be a changing/evolving relationship e.g. Polar Park. The incredible volunteer work done by scores of HC students does nothing to add to the city coffers |
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Post by rf1 on Feb 4, 2023 12:46:35 GMT -5
Good to see Worcester's top national academic institutions are making financial contributions to the city.
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Post by Wormtown Railers Fan on Feb 17, 2023 10:18:34 GMT -5
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Post by Tom on Feb 17, 2023 11:36:50 GMT -5
It was the British poet Pete Townshend who said "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss"
City councilors come and go. They vary from city to city. This never changes. Everyone wants more money and PILOTS from the non profits are an easy target because they can say "no" and the city can paint the non profits as the bad guyh
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Post by longsuffering on Feb 18, 2023 2:34:15 GMT -5
"Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and give to God the things that are God's." -Mark 12:17.
Caesar gets water and sewer fees, gets a break by not having to police the campus and gets the economic benefit of 4,000 students and staff in the city. Everything else is better managed by HC than the city. Which entity has a billion dollars in endowment and which has enough outstanding bond debt to choke a horse?
HC is a more efficient custodian of any money a Pilot program would generate than the city.
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