Brown to Pay Providence 1/3 of What Yale Pays New Haven Under Proposed PILOT Agreement
GoLocalProv News Team
Brown to Pay Providence 1/3 of What Yale Pays New Haven Under Proposed PILOT Agreement
In total, the colleges would now provide voluntary financial payments to the city’s general fund of valued at $223,472,813 00 over 20 years — as compared to $94,006,384 under combined prior agreements.
Under the new proposal Brown University will pay on average $8.7 million a year to the city — in contrast to Yale, which paid $24.1 million in its most recent fiscal year to New Haven, a city with a population smaller than that of Providence.
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City Blocks to Brown
In return, the city said it will support “key zoning and planning changes” — including the transfer of five blocks of city streets to Brown “where there are major facilities on both sides all owned exclusively by Brown University,” according to the city.
The “block conveyance conditions” would mean that the city would convey “approximately 27,550 square feet of city blocks in the Jewelry District neighborhood of Providence as well as “6,890 square feet of a city block in College Hill” on Cushing Street between Brook and Hope Streets.
The area in the Jewelry District would be two blocks of Elm Street between Eddy and Chestnut Street; the Providence Police substation currently on 172 Cushing Street will need to be relocated.
Defending Paying Third of Yale
In its press release making the announcement on Tuesday, the city defended the agreement which sees Brown paying a third of what Yale pays.
In its argument, the city said Yale’s endowment — and real property value — should be taken into consideration.
“When comparing endowment sizes to voluntary contributions, Yale University’s voluntary payments are 3.5 times smaller than what the four [Providence] institutions will pay,” said the city.
“When comparing percentage of real property value in both agreements, both stand at 7.9% but Yale's proportion of the property owned in New Haven is 2.4 times the size of the proportion of the property owned by the 4 educational institutions in Providence,” said the city.
In the proposed agreement, the institutions will be required to quantify non-cash “community contributions” to the city, including services provided by the institutions in lieu of the city (i.e. trash and snow removal, and maintenance and repair of public ways), in-kind and other forms of non-financial support for programs, services, and activities that “directly benefit the city of Providence and its residents.”
“Our city needs these funds in order to keep paying our bills on time, and provide the highest quality city services we all deserve,” said Smiley. “Our institutions also need Providence to be a city where students, faculty, doctors, and researchers and their employees want to be. This proposed agreement sets us all up for long-term success.”
The agreements, which were negotiated with the colleges, now go to the Providence City Council for consideration.