PROVIDENCE – A prominent nonprofit health care provider with multiple locations across the city has racked up nearly half a million in overdue city property taxes over the last five years.
Providence Community Health Centers Inc. owes over $445,600 in taxes and interest which has been accruing since 2016, according to city spokesperson Theresa Agonia.
The nonprofit primary care services provider is among the list of city property owners whose spaces are slated to be sold at a tax sale on Aug. 19 if they do not pay in time. However, both the city and the company say they are working to reach a “settlement” before then – which may be an arrangement other than paying the full amount of taxes owed.
“Our properties are in no danger of being sold at auction and we anticipate a resolution on this matter very soon,” Brett Davey, a spokesperson for Providence Community Health Centers, said in an email.
Asked why the agency had not paid its taxes, Davey said that historically it has been recognized as exempted from paying taxes, as is typical for many nonprofits.
However, a city review of its tax rolls in 2015 revealed that the health care organization had never been officially recognized by the city as tax-exempt nor struck any kind of agreement to reduce or bypass paying taxes.
Which means that Providence Community Health Centers now faces five years of taxes and interest for the 17 properties it occupies across the city.
Two properties account for nearly all of the money owed – a building at 695 Eddy St. has racked up $208,918, according to an online database of city properties listed for tax sale, while a series of plats within its building at 1 Randall Square totals $205,762.
No settlement has been finalized or payment made as of Friday, according to Agonia. The city tax sale is slated for Aug. 19.
Going forward, the organization will not be subject to city property taxes under a law passed by the 2020 General Assembly that adds Providence Community Health Centers to the list of tax-exempt properties.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.om.