Resolution in support of H.3080/S.1874, An Act relative to payments in lieu of taxation (PILOT) by organizations exempt from the property tax. On motion of Councilor Breadon, Rule 12 was invoked to include Councilors Louijeune and Bok as co-sponsors.
404370437 Council upgrade and offer the following resolution in support of House 38 Senate 1874 and relative to payments in lieu of taxation pilot by organizations exempt from the property tax. The chair recognizes Councilor Braid and Councilor Brady on the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. I move to suspend Rule 12 in order to add Councilors Legion and Councilor Bach, please. As original co-sponsors of this docket. Not hearing any objection, please add those. Mr.. Yes. The proposed bill would provide a local option for cities and towns to adopt a standardized pilot program that is modeled after the city of Boston's pilot program. For an On Our Cities Pilot program currently calls for tax exempt educational, medical and cultural organizations with property values in excess of 15 million to make voluntary payments equivalent to 25% of taxes that would be paid where they are not were they not tax exempt with half of the payment in cash and half through in-kind community benefit contributions. However, a public program lacks enforcement mechanisms, and many large institutions are out of compliance, with several continuously failing to meet their fully requested cash payments. Passage of a statute mandating pilot payments would afford Boston a mechanism to hold accountable the large institutions who call Boston home. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important bill and calling on the legislature to enact it. Mr. President, I seek to suspend the rules and passage of adoption of this resolution today after my co-sponsors have an opportunity to speak on it. Thank you. Thank you, Counsel Brady. Would anyone else like to speak on this matter? The chair recognizes counsel, illusion. Constitution. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you to my colleague, Councilor Braden, for introducing this resolution. I am more than happy to be a co-sponsor on this because we have a lot of work to do as a city to make sure that we are paying for the things that matter. We have a climate crisis on our hands, an affordable housing crisis. Got to deal with repairing a lot of the harm policy harm that we've done here as a city. And so I think our institutions that are here that, you know, benefit from not being taxed, even though oftentimes they have very large endowments, should really be paying in to the capacity building that we have to do as a government to do the things that we have to do. So I support this bill, and I'm and I am glad to sign on to this resolution so that cities and municipalities can have a local option to tax institutions in their cities. We depend so heavily on property taxes, obviously, and there's so much that we're missing out on when these large institutions don't have to pay in and they need to be good neighbors. And so I'm grateful again to Councilor Brayton for introducing this resolution and very happy to co-sponsor and to continue to work on pilot here to hold institutions accountable so that we can build the city that we deserve. Thank you. Thank you. Council and the chair recognizes council by Councilor Borg. You have the floor. Thank you so much, Mr. President. And thank you to councilors grading in the region for allowing me to co-sponsor on this. I think it's so important that our large institutions, our hospitals and universities pay their fair share in supporting the city, which all of our institutions depend on. And it's a totally symbiotic relationship. And and given how dependent we are on property tax, the reality is that we just we can't have our very successful non profit institutions continue to take more and more parcels off the taxable rolls. It's just an unsustainable situation for the city fiscally. And so I'm really proud of the fact that the city back in 2009 sort of forged the initial way forward. And it was mentioned. It really is a model. A lot of other cities around the country and other municipalities in the Commonwealth have copied that program. But I think we've seen in the last few years and I was proud to chair the pilot committee last term that, you know, we're we're running up against the challenges. When everybody doesn't participate, then, you know, it makes the folks who are doing the right thing, who are paying their full pilot assessment, which in terms of cash is one eighth of what you'd be paying if you were taxable. And, you know, it makes those folks feel like they're getting a raw deal because other people aren't stepping up and doing it. So I think the question of what could we actually have as a local option that would authorize this is a more than voluntary arrangement . Seems like a conversation that does need to be had in the state, even as I hope very much that, you know, we're able to reconvene a pilot task force under the mayor. That was something that happened under Menino. We were on the verge of doing it under both Walsh and Janey, and the transition's just proved too difficult. But I do think that, you know, in the meantime, while we wait for state legislation, we want to try to re up the Boston conversations that it's just so critical to our tax base. But certainly if this legislation that's up to the state has passed, it would give us a very strong legal basis for having a program that goes beyond the voluntary. And I just think when you think about all the things council at Legion already listed out that we have to pay for in the city, you know, the the first time we talked about pilot, we talked about it the way we ended up with the 25% number, which then because they'll have to pay half of that in cash is really a 12.5% number. Where we got there was the idea that 25% of the city budget was fire police. And so that was a sort of theory. And I think that since oh nine, the conversation has really moved where more of our institutional partners would acknowledge, like, hey, we as institutions in the city, we have a stake in a city school system. We have a stake in the city's public health. God knows we all work together through this crisis. You know, we we have a stake in the streets. And whether they're clean or whether they operate and whether it's safe to get from point A to point B, whether you're a pedestrian, a bicyclist, a motorist. So I think we've we've embraced a bigger picture understanding of how what we do in this building affects everybody in all of these institutions. And we need a pilot program that reflects that reality. So I'm really grateful for the opportunity to co-sponsor this resolution and urge colleagues to join us for today. Thank you. Thank you. Council block with anyone else, so to speak, on this matter. What everyone else like to add their name? Please raise your hand. Mr. Kirklees, Council of Royal Queens. Councilor Edwards. Councilor Fernandez Anderson Council. Hounslow Borough Council Fernandez Anderson Council. The Here Council. Murphy Council. We're all pleased. The Chair. Castle parade and six suspension of the roles in adoption of Docker 0437. All those in favor say I also say the ayes have it. The resolution has been adopted. Mr. Clark, please read Typekit 0438.