Medical School Agrees To Pay City $1.58M
A month after Worcester officials expressed concern over the potential for lost property tax revenue stemming from UMass Medical School's purchase of three commercial biotech buildings, the school has agreed to contribute $1.58 million to the city over the next five years.
The deal, which UMass said today is not a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, or PILOT, is called an economic and educational support agreement. The money will be used to support programs at the Worcester Public Library and health and biomedical science programs at Worcester Technical High School.
The school will make two payments totaling $700,000 in the coming fiscal year, which begins in July, according to a spokesman for the school.
UMass noted that the deal is in addition to in-kind support it already provides to the city.
"UMMS has a vested and mission-based interest in maximizing the economic and educational potential of its translational science and research programs that benefit Worcester, the commonwealth and the nation," Chancellor Michael Collins said in a statement. "We look forward to working with the city to collaboratively promote and market Worcester to commercial targets in the life sciences, medical devices and related industries, while helping to build the local workforce of the future."
The agreement comes about a month after the school purchased three large buildings for $40.3 million in the Worcester Biotechnology Park, which is adjacent to its campus.
City officials expressed concern that nonprofit ownership of the buildings, which total about 300,000 square feet, could cost the city $1.5 million in property tax revenue.
But UMass has said it intends to fill much of the space with for-profit entities, which means the city could collect the taxes. The school partnered with city officials and others to host commercial property brokers at its Sherman Center earlier this month to highlight available biotech space in the park, as well as at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Gateway Park and the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton.
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