Syracuse U. to Give $2.5-Million for Public Services

Syracuse University has agreed to pay its strapped home city $2.5-million over five years to help cover the cost of municipal services, The Post-Standard reports.

Stephanie Miner, the city’s mayor, said she will seek similar negotiated payments from other large nonprofit organizations. Slightly more than half of city property is tax-exempt, a situation Ms. Miner termed untenable as federal and state authorities cut aid to local governments.

The university, Syracuse’s biggest nonprofit property owner, would owe about $24-million a year if its holdings were taxed at its current assessed value.

City governments, particularly in the college-heavy northeast, are increasingly pressing major nonprofit entities such as universities and hospitals to boost voluntary payments.