By Susan Synder, Inquirer Staff Writers.
Philadelphia’s universities, which are largely exempt from paying property taxes, are fighting back against the idea that they should make payments to the city to help with its school funding crisis and other needs.
A universities-commissioned report to be released Thursday says 12 of the city’s universities collectively produce an economic impact of $10.9 billion. That includes employing 84,000 people and generating $211 million in city tax revenues, according to the report by Econsult Solutions, a Philadelphia-based economic consulting firm.
The calculations take into account university operations, construction projects, and student and visitor spending, including millions in tuition dollars.
The universities also kick in $641 million in scholarships, community services, public safety operations, and other in-kind contributions, the report said. The contributions span “every neighborhood and every conceivable type of resource and program,” it said.
The report was commissioned several months ago by the University of Pennsylvania, Community College of Philadelphia, Moore College of Art and Design, University of the Arts, Peirce College, University of the Sciences, and Drexel, Temple, St. Joseph’s, La Salle, Holy Family, and Thomas Jefferson Universities.
It comes as some local and national officials, including former Gov. Ed Rendell and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, have begun calling on the city to resume collection of Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOTs, from universities as a way to help ease the School District’s budget crunch.
In the 1990s, when Rendell was mayor and the city was in dire financial straits, his administration set up a PILOT program that collected about $9 million annually from about 50 entities, including nearly $2 million from Penn. The program was begun after a state Supreme Court ruling put pressure on nonprofits to prove their tax-exempt status.
But a 1997 state law made it easier for nonprofits to qualify for exemptions, and the city’s PILOT program has all but expired. Few institutions still make payments, bringing in about $400,000 a year.
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