Pittsburgh, Pitt meet to discuss city budget contribution
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Pittsburgh City Council members held a series of closed-door meetings with University of Pittsburgh officials today in an effort to find common ground on the contentious issue of college contributions to the city.
Coming in the wake of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's 2010 budget proposal, which contemplates a head tax on college students, the meetings included a firm stand by Pitt.
"Our tax-exempt status is vital to us, and we will fight to preserve that tax-exempt status," said Paul Supowitz, vice chancellor for governmental relations at the university, after the meetings.
He pointed out that Pitt's operations generate millions of dollars annually in parking and amusement taxes, and some university buildings used by for-profit entities are subject to property taxes.
Those payments are just a small fraction of Pitt's economic impact on the city, he said. "We really do feel that we contribute more than we take in terms of services."
Only a few council members at a time met with Mr. Supowitz, Vice Chancellor G. Reynolds Clark and governmental relations staff member James Williams. Because there was never a majority of council present, the meetings were not open to the public.
Councilwoman Theresa Smith, who pushed for the meetings, said she "questioned the whole nonprofit status" of some organizations that pay no taxes to the city.
Council has never acted on an offer from the tax-exempt umbrella group called the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund of $5.5 million in voluntary contributions over three years, because it is so much lower than the $14 million the fund paid from 2005 through 2007.
"We didn't take it because it was significantly lower, and it would look like we were agreeing to that," she said. She said that Mr. Clark, who is the fund's vice chairman, told council members that the number of organizations willing to donate to the city through the fund dropped from more than 100 in 2005 to around three dozen.
She said Pitt officials noted that some organizations -- though not Pitt -- opted to give to the Pittsburgh Promise of college tuition aid rather than the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund.
Mr. Ravenstahl has said the city must replenish its depleted pension fund by levying $15 million in fees on some combination of college students, hospital admissions, all-day parkers at garages owned by a city authority, and educational and medical institutions that buy city water. The city's Act 47 Recovery Plan includes those fees as options for making a larger-than-ever pension payment.
Students and hospital patients "should be the last place we are looking" for revenue, Ms. Smith said. But she added this: "I will vote for [such fees] if there is no other recourse."
"My concern is that with Act 47, there's not much that we can do as a city other than place services fees" on large tax-exempt organizations, said Councilwoman Darlene Harris, after leaving one of the meetings with Pitt. "I believe Pitt's willing to work with us, and we're going to talk some more."
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published October 9, 2009 2:58 pm
