“None of the above” will not be on the ballot in this September’s New Haven Democratic primary ballot for mayor. But Yale University and the Yale New Haven Health system may wish it were.
That’s because the university and hospital system are squarely in the crosshairs of the two actual mayoral candidates — three-term incumbent Toni N. Harp and challenger Justin Elicker. At a Tuesday morning mayoral candidates forum hosted by the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, the candidates made it clear they expect Yale and the health system to pony up big-time to address the city’s chronic, intractable economic ills.
Noting that 54 percent of New Haven’s real estate is exempt from paying property taxes — the life’s blood of city and town budgets in Connecticut — Harp said that to fill the budget gap the city must “look either to the state [government] or to our own major non-profit institutions that are worth billions of dollars.”
Under an agreement negotiated during the administration of Harp predecessor John DeStefano Jr., both the university and the health system voluntarily remit Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), an amount that topped $14 million last year but have totaled $100 million dating back to 1991.
Nevertheless, that “volunteer thing,” Harp called the PILOT payments, no longer fills yawning city coffers crippled by employee pension liabilities and long-term unfunded debt obligations — so it’s time to “revisit” the town-gown relationship.
Besides, New Haven’s mill rate of 42.98 is not really that bad, Harp added; neighboring Hamden (47.9) and West Haven (47) have even higher property taxes.
Democratic challenger Justin Elicker
Challenger Elicker began his remarks with a clarification: “I have not proposed a $50 million tax levy on Yale,” he said. “I have said Yale should pay it.”
“I have been tough on Yale and the hospital,” Elicker acknowledged of his stance regarding the Blue Mother. “But many people don’t understand just how severe [the city’s] economic crisis really is. Yale needs to take more of an ownership role” in its host city.
“New Haven should be a place where everyone who lives here can thrive,” Elicker said. “There’s a lot of investment coming into New Haven. But many people feel like they’re not benefiting from that investment.”
Among a host of remedies Elicker proposed job-training initiatives, especially for workers in distressed neighborhoods such as Newhallville, whose 10-percent unemployment rate is more than double the citywide average.
