Mayor Taveras Announces PILOT Agreement with Care New England

Taveras administration secures $5.7 million from five of seven largest tax exempts Additional contribution triple annual PILOT payments from 2003 MOU

Mayor Angel Taveras announced today that the city has reached a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Care New England. The agreement is completely voluntary and will provide the city with an additional $1 million over the next four years. The announcement comes on the heels of the Mayor's work to reach a settlement that reforms the city's pension system and ends the Medicare lawsuit.

Care New England, which operates Butler Hospital and Women and Infants, agreed to pay the city $250,000 each year for four years. The city and the hospital system agreed to reassess the agreement at the end of the three-year period due to unpredictable reimbursement within the health care industry. Coupled with the announcement of an agreement with CharterCARE earlier today, the city has now secured $5.7 million of additional contributions from five of the seven largest tax exempts in Providence.

"I am deeply grateful that Care New England has agreed to be a part of the effort to strengthen Providence's fiscal ground and position to the city for the future. Our hospitals are vital community pillars and essential partners in our work to make Providence a healthier city for all of our residents," said Mayor Angel Taveras.

"We believe in Providence," said Care New England President and CEO Dennis D. Keefe. "We have long demonstrated our support for the city and its residents through our hospitals' proud tradition of service, the uncompensated care we have provided to the uninsured and the underinsured, and through the workforce opportunities we offer. But the time is right to step up in a new way and to come to the aid of the city in a time of need. We believe a stronger Providence creates a stronger foundation for our community and helps advance our local knowledge district which holds so much promise for the state's future."

Care New England employs more than 640 people in Providence and provides $35 million of uncompensated care and community service each year. The system helps attract more than $25 million in private and federal funds for cutting edge research in brain science and women's and newborn health. In addition to the PILOT agreement, Care New England contributes $1.5 million in property taxes generated through development of taxable entities located on the Butler Hospital campus and an additional $400,000 in taxes through building space leased by Women & Infants.

In his Fiscal Year 2012 budget address, Mayor Taveras called on the city's seven largest tax-exempt institutions to make additional payments to the city to support vital services the city provides. To date, the Taveras administration has reached agreements with five of the tax-exempts, including CharterCARE, Care New England, Lifespan, Brown University and Johnson & Wales University.