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Segarra Still Wants Non-Profits To Pay Up

Jeff Cohen

October 10, 2012

Government budgets across the country are feeling the crunch. That’s true for the city of Hartford, too.

Earlier this year, when Mayor Pedro Segarra presented his budget that closed a roughly $50 million deficit, he included $1 million in new revenue from what he calls a voluntary PILOT program.

Here’s how it works. About half of the value of real estate in the city isn’t taxable because it’s owned by either non-profits or the state. So Segarra wanted to reach out to some of those non-profits and see if they’d give some cash back to the city on a voluntary basis.

This week, Segarra updated the city council on his progress. So far, he’s had conversations with non-profits such as Trinity Colelge, Hartford Hospital, St. Francis Medical Center and the University of Hartford. Segarra says he thinks he’s making some inroads with some of them, but that he’s not go firm commitments in hand just yet. Either way, he says he’ll figure out a way to fill that $1 million budget hole.