On Taxpayers’ Night, Baltimore residents call for major institutions to pay city more
Baltimore residents urged city officials during the annual Taxpayers’ Night to stopgap budget shortfalls by revisiting a 2016 agreement that allows major nonprofits and institutions to make annual municipal payments instead of paying taxes.
The hybrid-format forum, hosted Wednesday by the city Board of Estimates, was a more muted affair compared with previous years, with 20 speakers weighing in virtually and in person about Mayor Brandon Scott’s $4 billion proposed budget. The proposal, which faces a lengthy City Council approval process, suggests plugging a $61.9 million deficit by using parking revenues, trims to vacant positions, and a shift in funding for city police positions from the general fund to a state revenue source.
Advocates from the With Us For Us coalition urged the city to pass a charter amendment that would allow it to renegotiate a plan that allows 15 major educational and medical institutions to pay the city about $6 million per year through 2026 in lieu of taxes. The institutions covered under the agreement since 2010 include some of the city’s biggest employers, like the Johns Hopkins University, MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center, and Maryland Institute College of Art, whose real estate portfolios are worth billions of dollars. The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement absolves those institutions from having to otherwise pay about $120 million per year in property taxes.
“It’s well beyond time for anchor institutions to pay their fair share to the city of Baltimore,” said Nicole Fabricant, a Towson University professor and South Baltimore Community Land Trust co-founding member. “People in Poppleton don’t want private New York City developers coming in and displacing their community. Curtis Bay does not want more toxic industry in their community. They want zero waste infrastructure. They want green investments.”
The group, which is petitioning for a charter referendum to be placed on the November ballot, called for the city to invest that newly generated wealth into a community fund overseen by a mayor-appointed commission that would fund cooperatively owned businesses, agriculture, banks and utilities.
Raychel Gadson, a With Us For Us member and Hopkins doctoral student, said the process would be more democratic in determining the future layout of Baltimore neighborhoods.
“Development looks different when you are doing what your community is asking for,” she said. “Versus what your metrics tell you will be the most profitable investments.”
The forum concluded without the fervor that animated previous years. Scott, facing a tight reelection race, said he would revisit the PILOT plan as part of the city’s 10-year fiscal plan, but did not commit to raising the payments.
“I am someone who is very always very clear about, who will not violate any contracts or agreements that would ultimately also cost the residents money,” he said. “That’s why we’re doing it as a part of our 10-year fiscal plan, looking at everything that the city can do to have more money to invest in these neighborhoods.”
The Board of Estimates, of which Scott is a member, must weigh in on the budget before it goes to the City Council. The council is entering only its second year since voters bestowed it with new powers to add or cut from the budget.
