Bryant reaches agreement with Smithfield on emergency services

BRYANT UNIVERSITY has reached an agreement with the town of Smithfield over the school's payment for town emergency services. Town Council President Al LaGreca Jr. said he didn't believe
BRYANT UNIVERSITY has reached an agreement with the town of Smithfield over the school's payment for town emergency services. Town Council President Al LaGreca Jr. said he didn't believe "either side was satisfied" with the agreement, and it could be revisited after the five-year term expires. / COURTESY BRYANT UNVIERSITY

SMITHFIELD – Bryant University and the town approved a five-year agreement at a town council meeting Tuesday night for the university to reimburse Smithfield for its emergency services.
The agreement comes nearly a year after state lawmakers passed a bill requiring the school to negotiate a pact to help cover the annual cost of its use of town public-safety services by March 2014 or be forced to pay those bills.
The deal passed Tuesday is a revision of the town’s most recent proposal, Town Solicitor Edmund L. Alves Jr. said in a brief letter accompanying the document provided to Providence Business News on Wednesday.
The agreement calls for quarterly payments of $25,000 starting June 1, and payment of any excess costs as calculated by the two parties. If actual costs come in under $25,000, the overcharge would be used to reduce the subsequent payment. Costs are estimated at $195 for each town police run to Bryant, and $757 for each fire department or rescue run to the university, the agreement states.
After March 1, 2015, actual costs will increase by a range of 1 percent to 5 percent, based on the Boston Regional Consumer Price Index for the year prior, the agreement states.
“I don’t think either side was satisfied with the agreement, it’s just the best we can do at this time,” said Town Council President Al LaGreca Jr. in a phone interview. “It does reimburse us for emergency services, and I do think Bryant has an issue with being the only nonprofit [in Rhode Island] being forced to pay for police and fire. The feeling is, ‘Let’s do this for five years and sit down and reevaluate it.’”
Bryant University President Ronald K. Machtley said in an emailed statement that the university is glad to be moving forward with the agreement. “Bryant is pleased that we have been able to work constructively to find a mutually agreeable way to enhance Smithfield and to continue to be one of the most powerful economic engines in the region, providing jobs, attracting visitors and generating $17 million in economic impact per year,” Machtley wrote.
In a prepared statement, Michael E. Fisher, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, added, “We look forward to building on this agreement as a common community that benefits both Smithfield residents and Bryant students, families and guests. Our agreement is hopefully the beginning of a resumption of more collegial work together for the betterment of all.”
The document also has provisions exempting Bryant from being taxed for real property, with the exception of newly acquired property, which the town could keep on the tax rolls. It also provides for a four-year tuition scholarship to a Smithfield High School graduate in the top 10 percent of the class and continued donation by Bryant of surplus computer equipment and technical support to the town and school departments.
The agreement contains an automatic extension of the five years unless either side notifies the other of any intent to terminate it by March 1, 2018. The university has also agreed not to initiate a legal challenge to the new law during the first five-year term, but can opt out if a change in “governmental action … adversely affects or diminishes the scope” of Bryant’s tax-exempt status.
Bryant stated that the emergency services compensation is “in addition to the services and fees that Bryant already pays to Smithfield, which include approximately $300,000 per year in contributions such as full scholarships, hosting and paying for the annual Fourth of July Independence Day fireworks, providing space for the Smithfield High School graduation, technical support where possible and college-level courses for students.
“With this agreement, the value of Bryant’s direct and in-kind support to the town of Smithfield could total almost $10 million over 20 years,” the university said.

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