Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 15, 2005|Volume 32, Number 26

Yale increases its voluntary payment
to city by 80%, to $4.18 million a year

President Richard C. Levin has announced a significant increase in the voluntary payment that Yale makes each year to the City of New Haven.

Under a new formula adopted by the University, Yale's voluntary payment will increase by 80% in the city's next fiscal year to $4.18 million, up from the current contribution of $2.3 million.

The University estimates that annual voluntary contributions to the city under the formula will total $470 million or more over the next 50 years.

"Yale's cooperation and partnership with its host city has contributed to the renaissance of New Haven," Levin said. "New Haven's attractiveness as a place to live, work and study has been increasing, and that trend has added to Yale's own progress and success. The growth in Yale's voluntary contribution is inspired by the many worthwhile changes of the past dozen years and a desire to add to the positive momentum that has been created."

Levin said that Yale and New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. began discussions a year ago on a restructuring of the University's voluntary payment, and quickly reached an agreement that was approved by the Yale Corporation, the University's governing board, in the fall.

"Yale has worked productively with Mayor DeStefano, his administration and the city's Board of Aldermen," Levin said. "I do not believe that any other city in the country has gained so much through its partnership with a university."

Yale pays property taxes in its community investment program on all of its non-academic properties and is New Haven's largest property taxpayer. Yale currently pays $3 million annually in property taxes. Yale is also the city's largest payer of building permit fees, making payments of $2.4 million last year for permits related to its ongoing campus improvement program. No city in the nation receives more revenue because it is the home of a college or university than New Haven does as Yale's home.

In addition to the voluntary payments and tax revenue Yale provides to New Haven, Yale contributes to the city's economic and social wellbeing in other ways. One of Levin's top New Haven initiatives is the Homebuyer Program, which provides financial incentives to University employees who buy homes in New Haven. The Homebuyer Program has helped 670 families purchase homes with grants from Yale totaling more than $15 million. In addition to providing stable employment to thousands of local residents, Yale also creates jobs and tax revenue through growth of the biotechnology industry spurred by University research.

The formula determining Yale's increased annual voluntary payment to New Haven is based on the number of Yale students living in tax-exempt campus housing and the number of full-time University employees. The formula also takes inflation into account.

The announcement of Yale's increased voluntary payment was made by the mayor as part of his announcement of new voluntary contributions by other non-profit institutions in New Haven.

To learn about the many ways the University is contributing to the renaissance of New Haven, visit the website of the Yale Office of New Haven and State Affairs at www.yale.edu/onhsa/.

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