Despite Pitt’s good neighborly status, City officials think Pitt owes more

Pitt was named the best public neighbor college in the nation, but city officials want the… Pitt was named the best public neighbor college in the nation, but city officials want the University to contribute more to the community.

Pitt was named the top public school in the country in the “Saviors of Our Cities” survey published earlier this month. At the same time, the budget proposed by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl contains a provision that would charge the universities in Pittsburgh $50 per student each semester.

Pitt tied for second place overall in the survey with the University of Dayton.

The survey, which was presented by Evan Dobelle, president of Westfield State College, took into account 10 criteria for each school’s contributions to the community. These included the amount of money that went into the community, the commitment of students and faculty to community service and others.

Renny Clark, Pitt’s vice chancellor for community initiatives, said that Pitt’s ranking as the top public university was a major blessing to the University.

“To say that we’re thrilled is an understatement,” Clark said.

He said that the ranking helped to confirm Pitt’s opinion that it was already paying enough to the city.

Michael Konig, who helped to author the survey, said he and Dobelle also looked for schools that created a shared vision of the future along with the community. Konig said he was impressed by Pitt and its involvement in the community.

Bill Peduto, city councilman for District 8, which includes part of Oakland, said that the city’s options for revenue generation are limited.

“Unless the mayor or the universities offer an alternative, this may pass,” Peduto said.

The city has “maxed out” the taxes it is allowed to levy, Peduto said. Pittsburgh has the fourth-highest property taxes in Allegheny County, the second-highest wage taxes in Pennsylvania and the highest parking tax in the country, he said.

The proposed student fee would go into the general budget to help pay for running the day-to-day operations of the city, in addition to the Act 47 Recovery Plan.

The city’s current funding issue is an indicator of a larger issue of the ability of municipalities to raise revenue, Peduto said. A long-term solution, he said, would have to come through the universities and city lobbying Harrisburg for a change in the current tax system.

A fairer tax structure is needed, which would give municipalities opportunities to raise revenue lost because of the presence of large nonprofit organizations, Peduto said.

At least 30 percent of the land in Pittsburgh is non-taxable, Peduto said. The loss of revenue for the city makes it difficult to fund necessary services such as wages for city workers and infrastructure repair and maintenance.

“At this point, just saying ‘no’ is not an answer,” Peduto said.

Raising the taxes higher could force more of the already shrinking population to leave, he said.

“Pittsburgh will die. We don’t have a tax base,” Peduto said.

Clark acknowledged the difficulties faced by the city, but said that Pitt would fight to keep its tax-exempt status. Pitt already pays more than $4 million per year in taxes on its non-educational facilities and in parking taxes and amusement taxes and feels that it pays enough, Clark said.

“Trying to balance the city budget on the backs of the nonprofit community is not right,” Clark said.

Konig said many municipalities have similar problems, which require collaboration and cooperation to solve.

“The idea is that they look to the universities to help support the community,” Konig said.

Carnegie Mellon also made the top 25, ranking 19th.

The survey said Carnegie Mellon helped contribute to the community through its engineering and music programs.