An argument against the city’s cries for college money
For anyone following the city’s discussions over the past year to tap into PILOT funds, this week’s Pie and Coffee 508 Podcast is something to listen to. PILOT stands for payment in lieu of taxes and the City Council has been discussing on and off over the past year attempts to get Worcester’s non-profit colleges and universities to “pay up.”
Brendan Melican gives what is quite likely the best and most succinct argument against PILOT. You can find Melican’s comments about 12:40 into the podcast. Melican argues colleges forking over money to the city will only result in colleges restructuring to make up for the loss of funds. “The money has to be coming in from somewhere,” Melican says. “Maybe tuition will go up, things are just going to shift.”
Melican says any sort of PILOT system will likely just ”screw things up for the rest of us who are actually kind of happy with — if anything — the way the not-for-pofits serve the city.”�
