From the “he doth protest too much” department comes the latest round in the continuing conflict between Roger Williams University and the town of Bristol.
The town and the school have been negotiating for years over payments in lieu of taxes to cover public services. By way of comparison, in 2003, Brown University, Johnson & Wales University, Providence College and Rhode Island School of Design agreed to make such payments to Providence to the tune of $50 million over 20 years.
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RWU is taking a different tack. It is arguing, with the aid of a study it commissioned, that the town already gets a huge premium from the university – a $3 million net benefit, once the cost of city services is deducted.
EconImpact of Louisville, Ky., the company that did the study, went even further and calculated that RWU generated $200 million in tangible and intangible benefits – including lower rates of unemployment, welfare, crime, incarceration, absenteeism, alcoholism and smoking, valued at a combined $34 million. Right.
Everyone agrees that Bristol is a better place because RWU is within its borders. The university didn’t need to resort to convoluted methodology to figure it out down to the penny, because the point is accepted. That’s why it is tax-exempt and doesn’t legally owe the town a dime.
But RWU, like Providence’s colleges, is part of the community, and as such, it should consider the public good.
Bristol is asking for $150,000 a year to defray the costs of replacing emergency vehicles. That seems like a reasonable figure.
