December 08, 2008

The College as "rich uncle"

An editorial in Friday’s Amherst Bulletin addresses the question of what the College owes the Town (and vice versa) in greater depth than we’ve managed in this space. The current economic climate is likely to make the town’s economic difficulties even more dire even as the value of the College’s endowment plunges, so arguments around this issue are growing more strained.

Friday’s opinion, authored by UMass psychology professor Richard Bogartz, responds to an earlier Letter to the Editor suggesting that the College does not donate it’s “fair share” to the Town, comparing Amherst and its $1.3B endowment to Dartmouth College, and its recent $9.5M donation to the town of Hanover. Like last year’s comparisons of Amherst with Williams, Bogartz questions whether such direct comparison is merited. Then he continues.

Reciprocity is an aspect of fairness. So let’s consider the “huge impact” that AC has on Amherst. Probably “impact” does not refer to the availability to Amherst of lectures, concerts, sporting events, AC library, Dickinson Homestead, Mead Museum, the observatory, or the reputation of the town as the home of a world class private college. Probably not the taxes paid by the college employees or the AC students’ support for many town businesses. This “huge impact” requires detailing to justify AC owing the town $3.5 million. I wonder if after the tallying is done the town might not in fact owe AC some dollars instead of the other way around. If so, would there be letters to the editor urging that the town pay up?

Later, Bogartz compares the College to a wealthy relative:

Your rich uncle doesn’t really owe you anything. But he has so much and you are struggling. Wouldn’t it only be fair for him to donate?

Finally, he compares state tax policy (under which the College pays no property taxes in Amherst) to the kind of concessions often made to attract business:

If we had no Amherst College here, I wonder what sort of concessions the town would be willing to make to attract such a “business.” Would we be willing to exempt it from paying property taxes?

Parker Morse '96 | December 8, 2008 09:18 AM | Town

Dave Rogers | December 8, 2008 12:48 PM:

Parker Morse '96 | December 8, 2008 12:56 PM:

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