- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
10.3 PILOT Agreement: Landlord finds that the Ballpark and the Ballpark Parcel are eligible for consideration of a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes agreeement.
Editor's note:
We thought only non-profits could be eligible for a PILOT???
How does a for profit business not have to pay real estate taxes and be eligible for a PILOT??
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comments
Not only did the City erroneously grant an "exemption" from taxes they did it inconsistently. If you read 121B Sec. 16 the exemption that the City erroneously projects to the WooSox "thru" the Redevelopment Authority applies to both the real estate and tangible personal property taxes, yet where the personal property is subject to taxation in Section 10.1 of the lease, the real estate taxes are only subject to a 'PILOT Agreement" by Section 10.3 of the lease. This construct is illogical.
Finally, the ball park is no longer under the control of the Worcester Redevelopment Authority,and the the lease of the ballpark from the City to WooSox would be subject to taxation consistent with Chapter 59 AND Chapter 121B.
It looks to me that the lease was structured to find a way to exempt the WooSox from paying real estate taxes "legally imposed assessed or levied". Someone calculated these taxes to be in the amount of $5,334,000.00. If I was the WooSox I would negotiate not to pay these taxes. If I was the City I would negotiate for the WooSox to pay these valid taxes because it would go a long way to making the project pay for itself.
Maybe the deal fever arrested the city brains in charge to think that any expense was justified to develop those two eyesore parcels. I wish they would be honest about it and we could have an actual cost-benefit analysis. Maybe that analysis would expose negligence or big mistakes or just a bad decision? Maybe it would show that fixing those eyesores is completely justified in the long run?
How many more actual taxpaying businesses will be chased out of the city’s borders because of the undue tax burden that they have to shoulder, with no end to the burden in sight? I’d like to see those numbers. Taxpayers deserve the whole story.
Why should the WooSox bend at all? They bent the city over the negotiating table once. Already and the city has no cards to play