Boston, Pittsburgh Seek More Money From Major Nonprofit Groups

Boston officials are nearing an agreement with large nonprofit organizations that could double or triple the amount the city collects in payments from them in lieu of taxes, according to the Jamaica Plain Gazette, a weekly newspaper in Massachusetts.

City Councilor Steve Murphy said a pact could be ready within 90 days that would raise the payments from colleges and hospitals for local services from the current $15-million a year to between $32-million and $46-million.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will ask the City Council today to approve a 1-percent tax on tuition at the city’s colleges and universities to plug a budget hole, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. He said students and their families “have a role to play” in bearing the cost of police, fire, and other services extended to the schools. The city’s colleges and universities are expected to lobby against the proposal.