Colleges, City Should Follow Pharmacy School's Lead
Ask someone from out of town what they know about Worcester and you’ll likely hear one response: “Worcester. Aren’t there a lot of colleges there?”
The answer, of course, is yes. And those colleges are a fabulous resource for the city. However, the fact that nonprofit colleges aren’t obliged to contribute to the city’s tax coffers has long been a point of political ax grinding.
But recently, a positive step was made in resolving this endless conflict.
Through collaboration, the Mass. College of Pharmacy voluntarily came to an agreement with the city to make $1.25 million to $1.5 million over 25 years in payments that the city will reserve for the nearby public library.
We encourage Worcester’s other colleges and universities to follow the college of pharmacy’s example and collaborate with the city in its time of need on payments that will help fund city operations that in turn benefit the schools themselves.
Word Games
And perhaps it’s best that we drop the troublesome PILOT label. Long a term associated with political grandstanding, it’s time we put semantics aside and focus on what’s best for both parties: the schools and the city.
Estimates for how much tax revenue the city would bring in under an official PILOT program range from $500,000 to $750,000 despite PILOT advocates’ insistence that it would collect millions.
No matter whom you believe, Worcester’s college and universities already contribute millions.
The college of pharmacy has already invested more than $50 million in what was, until its arrival, a moribund section of downtown Worcester between Main Street and what is supposed to become CitySquare. In addition to the complete refurbishment of its main building at 19 Foster St., the school spent $1.5 million in August on the purchase of 36-40 Foster St. and its future plans may double its efforts so far.
The college of pharmacy’s efforts demonstrate a true commitment to Worcester. And the city’s other colleges and universities have made similar contributions.
Clark University’s undying commitment to the city’s long-suffering Main South neighborhood and the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s efforts to make Worcester the focal point of the state’s — and the country’s — biomedical industry are examples.
These and the millions spent by the city’s other schools on real estate development, social programs and the general promotion of Worcester as a nice place to live and attend school simply underscore the fact that city councilors hungry for a citywide PILOT program have had it backward all along.
In fact, the schools themselves could, and perhaps should, argue for the end of the city’s unfair and counterproductive two-tiered tax system that charges commercial property owners one of the highest rates in Central Massachusetts and about twice the residential rate.
The council has stubbornly refused to change the system. A single, equitable rate for commercial and residential property owners would attract businesses that would hire the graduates of the city’s colleges to Worcester. Some of those graduates may even choose to live here.
If nothing else, we hope the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences’ agreement to make payments in lieu of property taxes to the city brings an end to grandstanding by certain city councilors.
PILOT has been a political football in the city for long enough. It’s time to focus on compromise.
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