Pittsburgh Targets Tax-Exempt Status Of UMPC Properties

PITTSBURGH, PA — Mayor Ed Gainey announced Tuesday that the city will challenge the tax-exempt status of 26 properties, an initial salvo to non-profit properties on the tax rolls.

The move comes two months after ordered a review of all tax-exempt property owned by charities to ensure that the special tax-exempt status is appropriate under state law. About 10 percent of that review has been completed.

“Already the Law and Finance departments have identified properties that are not paying their
fair share,” Gainey said at a news conference.

“The next step is for the (Allegheny County) Office of Property Assessments to review our challenges and make a determination. We hope they will move expeditiously to make them pay."

The city is challenging the exemptions on six UPMC-affiliated properties, two owned by Carnegie Mellon University, one by the University of Pittsburgh, one by Allegheny General Hospital and others owned by smaller nonprofits or private citizens.

The financial implications of the city's challenge are significant.

A report released last year by the Pittsburgh Budget and Policy Center indicated, for example, that if UPMC were not exempt as a purely public charity, it would pay an estimated $50 million annually in property taxes to the city and the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

See the entire news conference here: