Charities in Boston Metropolitan Area Pressed to Pay Local Governments
October 19, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Government officials in several cities in the Boston suburbs are starting to press charities to begin paying local property taxes or to make voluntary payments to local governments, reports the Boston Globe.
In February, a citizen advisory group in Newton, Mass., pushed government officials to make the city’s five local colleges pay some portion of the estimated $6-million that they annually save in property taxes.
Earlier this month, in the western suburb of Framingham, town-council members voted to seek voluntary payments from local nonprofit groups with state contracts as well as from national organizations, such as the Boy Scouts and the American Cancer Society, that have local arms in the city.
Jerry Desilets, director of policy and planning for the town’s largest nonprofit organization, the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, said the demand for payments unfairly focuses on organizations that help vulnerable citizens. He added, “All of the money is dedicated to things in our contracts. There is nothing there to give reimbursement for local real-estate taxes.”
See The Chronicle’s special report on city tax breaks.
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