City, U. officials deny $2 mil. PILOT settlement

City and University officials said they flatly deny the figures in a story from Saturday's edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer which reported that the University has agreed to pay $2 million in the form of a Payment in Lieu of Taxes and $1 million in the form of Services in Lieu if Taxes. Stephen Golding, the University's vice president for finance, and Carol Scheman, vice president for community and government relations, both said that the University and the city are still negotiating and no figures had been released. And Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning Greg Rost agreed, saying that the issue is still under discussion. He added that discussions have been productive and closure on the matter could be in the near future. The PILOT/SILOT issue centers around the city's asking the University to pay about 30 percent of the real taxes it would owe if it were a for-profit institution, as a part of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program. Golding said there are still one or two points of contention that have to be resolved between the University and the city. "In all likelihood we will make a charitable contribution to the city," Golding said. "But at this point we are still talking. Everybody is trying to get it done as quickly as we can. We met all the time frames and we are in good faith in negotiations." Last summer, Mayor Ed Rendell began asking non-profit organizations to pay a portion of the taxes due to the city if the organizations were for-profit. The city's move follows a national trend of financially strapped cities across the country that have asked universities and other non-profit organizations such as hospitals and churches to make a payment in lieu of taxes. The city feels non-profits should pay for such municipal services as fire, police and street cleaning. And the city estimates that the new revenue could raise as much as $8.4 million, with $3.78 million going to the city and $4.62 million to the School District of Philadelphia. In addition, the city has threatened to take the University and other non-profits to court if they refuse to comply with the city's wishes. As the city's biggest non-profit and the city's largest private employer, the University, is being asked to pay its share of the tax burden. But Scheman said that the University is clearly a tax-exempt organization and has no obligation to pay taxes to the city. She did add, however, that she sees the relationship between the University and the city as being very solid. "The conversations have been aimed at figuring out what kind of role we can play in improving West Philadelphia and Philadelphia," Scheman said. Scheman, who has been working as a liaison between various universities and cities for over 20 years, said the University's commitment to the city is by far the best she's ever witnessed. "I'm absolutely amazed when I look at the range of the involvement with the community," she said. "It's really very unusual. There's a greater sense of civic responsibility than I have seen anywhere. "The mayor and the president have a shared vision of what this city could be," Scheman added. The city has also changed the name of the PILOT program to the Philadelphia Voluntary Contribution Program.