CORRECTION: Princeton Mayor Says Meetings Have Helped Relationship Between Town, University: Reports

Princeton, NJ -- Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert and Council President Bernie Miller have been meeting with officials from Princeton University on a regular basis over the last two years, but the news of these meetings come as a surprise to Councilwoman Jo Butler, Planet Princeton reports.

Lempert confirmed to the newspaper that she and Miller have been meeting with University officials, but that most of those meetings were about operational issues. She said the meetings came at the suggestion of a group of residents, and that the relationship between the town and the University had become fractured when the University stopped meeting with the former borough.

There had never been regular meetings between the University and the former township officials. Princeton Patch’s previous story indicted there were no meetings between the sides. Patch apologizes for this error.

The report also indicated that the town’s former head lawyer and the town’s tax attorney have been meeting in secret with University officials, and the town has agreed to back the University as residents have filed a lawsuit concerning its tax exempt status, according to the report. However, on Wednesday, Mayor Liz Lempert clarified to Princeton Patch that the town is a defendant in the lawsuit, and that it is remaining neutral.

The lawsuit challenges the tax-exempt status of some of the University’s buildings that are used for commercial use, such as eateries.

The University is also being accused of acting like a for-profit institution, including holding a licensing agreement for a chemotherapy drug.

A judge recently ruled that the University bears the burden of proof to show that it should be considered tax exempt.

The University said it shouldn’t bear the burden of proof because it is the defendant in the case, and it is typically the plaintiff who bears that responsibility.

The judge in the case is Vito L. Bianco, the same judge who ruled in June thatMorristown Medical Center was not tax exempt for three years. Although the medical center is a non-profit and therefore tax exempt, the businesses and entities inside of it, including doctors and practices, were not non-profit.

The medical center thus will end up paying $15.5 million in taxes to the town over the next decade.

Lempert said the sides never discussed the lawsuit, according to the report.

Butler told the newspaper council has never received an update from either Lempert or Miller on any of the meetings, and that they were unaware these meetings were taking place.

Lempert’s husband is a professor at the University. Butler told the Princeton Packet she “was firm about raising the issue of a possible conflict of interest” for Lempert.

On Wednesday, Lempert told Princeton Patch she recuses herself on the advice of town counsel. She also clarified a statement about two sides moving from a relationship in which they are trying to decide which side is in charge to a more collaborative effort. This statement pertained to the Princeton Police Department and the University campus police specifically, and not to the University and the town. Princeton Patch apologizes for this error.