Word: watertown
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Last week, Harvard finally reached a deal with neighboring Watertown that will give millions of dollars to the city over the coming years as compensation for the University’s purchase of the Arsenal office complex. The neighborhood’s almost unanimously favorable reaction gives us hope that Harvard may be turning a corner in its heretofore clumsy community relations...
When the University purchased the 30-acre Arsenal plot a year and a half ago, the community’s outcry was harsh—but its alarm was justified. Because Harvard is a tax-exempt institution, Watertown would have lost millions of dollars in revenue when the Arsenal site was removed from the city’s tax rolls. That revenue accounted for almost 5 percent of Watertown’s entire budget, money Watertown had been counting on for library and school renovations among other projects...
...that light, this deal—in which Harvard will pay Watertown $3.8 million this year, increasing 3 percent each year until 2054—is a heartening signal that the University recognizes its obligation to invest in surrounding communities. The $3.8 million figure is the Arsenal’s estimated tax value this year, ensuring that Watertown will not lose any revenue at all in the short term. And though the agreement ends 52 years from now, Harvard has extended other payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements after they have expired in Cambridge and Boston...
Additionally, Harvard will donate $500,000 over the next three years to Watertown public schools, as well as $100,000 annually to a “Watertown/Harvard Enrichment Fund” for community programs...
...council’s lone dissenter, Frederick L. Pugliese, said he was concerned that the 52-year agreement will leave Watertown high...