Phila. wants U. to pay up $1.6 million

Back fees are in question City of Philadelphia officials claim the University owes the city $1.6 million in back fees for its residences – and are threatening to take away the University's housing license if it remains unpaid. Bennett Levin, commissioner of the Department of Licenses and Inspections, said the city will take "specific enforcement action" unless the money is paid. The University contended it is not responsible for paying a city occupancy fee – which is required as part of a 20-year-old city ordinance that mandates charges of $25 per living unit for university dormitories in the city – but has agreed to pay future charges. Paul Cribbins, the University's director of city and commonwealth relations, said the University has not yet resolved the issue of back payment. "We have agreed in principle to pay the fee going forward from this year on, but we have not settled on an amount and have not come to any agreement on the retroactive portion," Cribbins said. "We're discussing with the city a way to try to resolve that." The city plans to file a violation notice if the University does not pay its bill in the next two weeks, Levin said, but he does not expect the situation to reach that point. Still, Levin said, no resolution would exempt the University from its financial obligations to the city. "If the city is ever going to get out of the financial quagmire, there will not be exceptions made for those with inordinate power," Levin said. "There is no favoritism or political muscle that can be used to have enforcement be selected or not selected." Currently, the University and Drexel University are the only Philadelphia schools who have failed to pay the outstanding fees. Other schools, such as Temple and LaSalle universities, have settled their financial differences with the city. "With the exception of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel, other schools have made peace with us," Levin said. "The silence is deafening." Cribbins said the University estimates it will have to pay approximately $80,000 a year to the city in future years. The city recently sent the University a bill for $100,000 for the current year that, Levin said, has gone unrecognized by the University for two weeks. According to Deputy Provost George Koval, negotiations with the city are currently being handled by the treasurer's office and the General Counsel's office. Another point of contention in the dispute is whether or not the city has conducted inspections of University residences. Cribbins said last week that the residential fee was "ostensibly for purposes of inspections, but the city has not inspected [University dorms]. To date, those haven't been done for the dorms on campus." Levin, however, said that regardless of the delay in payment, the city has continued to inspect University residences out of an ethical obligation to the safety of its residents.

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