Nonprofit Payments Up 24% in Fiscal 2012

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced Jan. 20 that PILOT contributions for the first half of fiscal 2012 were 24 percent more than what the city would've received previously, thanks to new guidelines. 

In total, $9.4 million was received, which represents 88 percent of the $10.8 million of total contributions requested.

PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) guidelines are recommended contributions for non-profit, tax-exempt organizations. As more non-profit organizations gobble up property in Boston, Menino and the City Council created a PILOT Taske Force last year to help garner more money.

“Our non-profit institutions are an essential part of the city’s economic engine and I’m pleased to see so many of them voluntarily contributing to the essential city services that make Boston a great place to live and work,” said Menino, in a press release. “I also congratulate the PILOT Task Force on successfully setting up a fair and open process for how we determine these payment recommendations.”

According to a City of Boston press release, "based on the new guidelines, 45 private institutions from the educational, medical and cultural sectors were identified as owning tax-exempt property valued in excess of the $15 million threshold established in the PILOT guidelines."  

In September, those 45 institutions received a notice by mail with a monetary calculation of their first-half PILOT request. Two local organizations,  and the  contributed to the PILOT program.

Boston asked institutions to contribute approximately $21.5 million in cash and $22.2 million in community benefits "that uniquely benefit Boston residents for fiscal year 2012." Community benefits contributions are due on March 1. This year's requests are up from fiscal year 2011, when these institutions paid $15.2 million in cash and $2.3 million in community benefits of PILOT payments. 

The following institutions contributed to the new PILOT program and made a payment at or in excess of the first half amount:

• Berklee College of Music
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Boston Architectural College
• Boston College High School
• Boston Medical Center
• Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Boston University
• Dana Farber Cancer Institute
• Harvard Vanguard
• Hebrew Rehabilitation Center
• Mass College of Pharmacy
• Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary
• MASCO
• New England Baptist Hospital
• Northeastern University
• Partners HealthCare, Inc.
• Showa Boston
• Wentworth Institute of Technology
• WGBH