Affordable Housing Institute : US

By: David A. Smith

 

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1a.]

 

Yesterday, I started digging into the Town of Concord’s remarkable letters to all of its non-profits, asking them to cough up to-be-determined payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to the town:

 

Taxing non-profits? Why didn’t I think of that?

 

The Boston Globe article which caused me to riff on this printed both the town’s ask letter [Yet to come, dear reader – I'm building the suspense! – Ed.] also quoted the various excuses offered by non-profits:

 

The Concord Land Conservation Trust said its trustees didn’t to pay any more.

Concord Academy said the town got more from it than it got from the town.

Middlesex School said it was already providing little gifts here and there.

 

The excuses in our next set are a little more artful:

 

4. Emerson Hospital

 

“Welcome to the web site for Emerson Hospital, a private, non-profit, acute care medical center founded in 1911. By providing advanced, high quality care in an atmosphere of warmth and compassion, Emerson has grown to become a regional health system serving over 300,000 individuals in 25 towns.”

 

The hospital’s tax bill would be approximately $390,000 according to the town.

 

Emerson Hospital‘s response was more nuanced, combining two ideas: We can’t afford it, and besides, we give you more than you give us.

 

Emerson Hospital said it also faces economic certainty [Sic! 'uncertainty!'  Where are your proofreaders? – Ed.] from year to year –

 

What business or household doesn’t?  You’re not convincing me.

 

Tax payments beyond compare too?

 

– but continues to provide a wide range of services and in-kind donations to the community, in addition to being a top employer in town.  [It has a total of 1,600 employees. – Ed.]

 

Emerson claims volunteers provided 74,681 hours of service in 2007, and if we take that as a good figure, the in-kind value of these services is probably 10x the town’s tax bill.  Even if many of those volunteer hours benefit people beyond Concord’s town limits, Emerson has a plausible case.

 

Emerson president Christine Schuster wrote that the hospital provides disaster planning, holds preventive-care clinics, heath education programs, and conducts a youth risk-behavior study.

 

“We give you more than you give us.”

 

“In summary, the services and in-kind donations that flow from Emerson Hospital to the Town of Concord are extensive,’’ Schuster wrote. “They far exceed the dollar amount proposed in your letter as payment in lieu of taxes.’’

 

5. Lincoln Land Conservation Trust

 

“The LLCT was established in 1957 for the purpose of maintaining the rural character of the community by holding land in trust for the benefit of the townspeople.  Membership in this nonprofit, tax-exempt, private trust is open to all Lincoln citizens.  The LLCT buys, holds and manages land and engages in active conservation and education activities.   Since its inception, it has contributed to the protection of more than 1,000 acres of land in Lincoln.”

 

The Lincoln trust would face a $849 annual tax bill, the town reported.

 

Though their equivalent bill was small, the Lincoln land Conservation Trust was feisty.

 

William Constable [Possibly a distant relative of John Constable – Ed.], president of the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, said its open-space land provides far greater public and economic benefits to the town than it demands in public services.

 

“Open space provides far greater public benefits …”

 

He also pointed out that Concord owns land in Lincoln, so officials should reciprocate and consider making a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes contribution to that town.

 

Clearly Mr. Constable, though more than a little nettled at what he considers a peremptory demand, has a sense of humor, for he finds the beam in his neighbor’s eye. 

 

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (of Concord, MA)

 

If those who gain a public benefit for free should make a payment for it anyway, then shouldn’t Concord pay Lincoln a PILOT for the land in the town of Lincoln that the Town of Concord owns?  {Love to understand how this curious swap came to be. – Ed.]

 

Mr. Constable was just warming up, for his reply includes a non-too-subtle threat:

 

“Requiring PILOT payments (or perhaps even requesting them):

 

Even requesting them!  That’s brass.

 

Don’t even read this sign!

 

[1] may have a stifling effect on conservation opportunities,

[2] in some circumstances may lead to de-acquisitioning of open space parcels,

[3] which will lead in most cases to residential development,

 

Translation: If you tax us, maybe we’ll sell our valuable land, and when we do, they’ll build housing on it, and those people will move into your sylvan suburban town.

 

My God!  Poor people!!

 

[4] which will in turn raise the tax burden on all existing and future residents of Concord.”

 
Oh, Mr. Constable, you just fell from grace.  Additional development in Concord will be a net positive, because the new homes and residents will bring more to the town than they cost.

Still, you get points for well-bred combativeness.

 

6. Walden Woods Project

 

The Walden Woods Project preserves the land, literature and legacy of the quintessential American author, philosopher, and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

 

To preserve the legacy of Henry David Thoreau, the Walden Woods Project does a better job of protecting the land that he did, for in 1844 he inadvertently burned them down.

 

“Protecting the woods that

 

He and a friend had caught some fish and were making chowder in the woods between Walden Pond and the Sudbury River. Dry grass sparked into flame, and 300 acres burned. Concord townspeople struggled mightily to put it out, this being before the days of modern firefighting methods. He became “the fool who burned the woods down.”

 

As Ed Glaeser said in his talk with our group at ULI, “If you love nature, stay out of it.”

 

And live in cities, they’re greener

 

The annual tax bill for Walden Woods would be $89,000, according to the town.

 

In its turn, the Walden Woods Project offered a different argument: If we do this once, we’ll have to do it forever.

 

Kathi Anderson, executive director of the Walden Woods Project, said while she sympathizes with the town, nonprofits are supposed to be exempt from paying property taxes. She said even a modest contribution would indicate support of a payment-of-lieu-of-taxes program.

 

Walden Woods staff, Kathi Anderson second from left

 

 “We are deeply concerned with the precedent that such a step would set, as well as its negative impact on the good work of Concord’s tax-exempt organizations,’’ Anderson wrote.

 

Will no one toss the town any money?  Seventh time lucky:

 

7. Concord Art Association

 

In the case of the Concord Art Association, the [town's tax estimate] was $18,000.

 

“Concord Art Association is a non-profit, membership-based organization, comprised of artists, educators and supporters of the arts.”

 

The Concord Art Association is giving $1,000.

 

On the one hand, that’s only 6% of what the town ‘thought’ they should give; conversely, it’s more than all the others gave combined.  This despite its tiny size and its single property, the John Ball house.

 

“It was just our feeling that we do get quite a few services from the town and we know the town is under financial pressure,’’ said John Tilney, the private association’s president.

 

Tilney roughly thirty years ago

 

That was nice of them, although if it had been I, I’d have structured the donation as coming not from the Association itself but rather its members, so as to reduce the precedential risk.

 

Thus, with only one exception from the smallest among them, the great and good of Concord to a person rejected the Town’s overture to begin a dialog.  Was the town’s case really that weak?

 

You’re not worth arguing with

 

[Continued tomorrow in Part 2.]