In last November‘s Worcester municipal election, 74.8% of voters endorsed the idea that Worcester‘s private local colleges be required to invest 0.5% of their endowments into a fund to advance needed economic development, housing, and community projects, for which they would receive a return on investment.
Moreover, in September 2024, Mayor Joseph Petty and City Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson filed an order unanimously supported by the City Council, requesting the City of Worcester establish an institutional zoning ordinance similar to Cambridge and Boston. An IZ ordinance requires large institutional nonprofits to file with the municipality a 10-year master plan outlining their growth and construction plans for a 10-year period. This would ensure government officials, neighborhood residents, and business owners are not surprised by property acquisitions or expansions that could negatively disrupt neighborhoods and business districts.
The IZ ordinance would create a new level of transparency for neighborhood residents and business districts and ensure City officials have predictability for City planning and finances.
The genesis of the IZ ordinance and municipal ballot question by the City Council was a result of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MCPHS University, and the College of the Holy Cross acquiring major pieces of property and existing businesses in 2024 with little or no notice to City officials, residents, and businesses. The consequences of these and previous acquisitions, more often than not, result in properties being taken off the municipal tax rolls because of the colleges’ nonprofit status. The tax burden is shifted onto remaining residential and business taxpayers’ real estate tax bills.
The IZ ordinance approved by the City Council was forwarded to Worcester’s legislative delegation to be adopted by the legislature as a home rule petition in September 2025, where it is still pending on Beacon Hill.
City Manager Eric Batista has reported to the Council and the public on several occasions over the past 18 months that he is in negotiations with the colleges on a potential resolution to the IZ ordinance issue, the establishment of a community impact fund, and/or new PILOT agreements. In the past two months, the Boston Globe reported the City of Boston has negotiated new and substantial PILOT agreements with Northeastern University and Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Meanwhile, Worcester’s residential, commercial, and industrial taxpayers wait. The voters and Worcester City Council have been clear we need a balanced and fair partnership between Worcester residential and business taxpayers and our large institutional nonprofits. Our state legislative and federal legislative delegation should be mindful of this when these same institutional nonprofits seek taxpayer support from the state or federal government for programs and/or infrastructure.
Timothy Murray is president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.
