By Stephanie Vaccarro, Staff Writer
Princeton University will offer Princeton Township a voluntary payment of $500,000 for 2011, Mayor Chad Goerner announced at the first Township Committee meeting of 2011.
”The university and township will complete a formal agreement in the next few weeks,” Mayor Goerner said. “It is understood by both parties that the voluntary payment is for 2011 only. We will continue our discussions in 2011 with the goal of reaching a multi-year agreement for 2012, or a one-year agreement for 2012, depending on what the outcome is of our discussions as it relates to consolidation and shared services.”
”This is not a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), it is a special voluntary contribution,” said Kristin Appelget, director of community and regional affairs for Princeton University.
”The payment is a general contribution to the township. It will be used toward township expenditures, and it will be dedicated to expenses that are mutually agreeable to the township and the university,” Ms. Appelget said. But the exact use is yet to be determined, she said.
This is the first time the university has made a payment of this kind to the township. The university has voluntarily left some of its properties, primarily graduate student housing, on the tax rolls.
”Princeton University pays in excess of $600,000 in property taxes to Princeton Township each year for non-dormitory graduate student housing that could otherwise be taken off the tax rolls,” Ms. Appelget said. “The majority of our graduate students who live in university housing reside in Princeton Township.”
”The university’s policy to leave non-dormitory graduate housing on the tax rolls stems from decisions made in the 1960s,” Ms. Appelget said. “The decision was based on the fact that graduate student families (and potentially school-aged children) could live in this housing.”
”We will be leaving those properties on the tax roll, so this contribution is in addition to this,” Ms. Appelget said.
Whether there would be an additional contribution made next year, she said, depended on the outcome of the consolidation discussions this year.
The university has a similar six-year agreement with Princeton Borough. The amount paid adjusts annually, Ms. Appelget said, and the estimated amount in 2010 was $1.2 million.
”The six-year agreement that the university has with Princeton Borough is not a PILOT,” Ms. Appelget said. “It is, like the payment we are making to the township, a special voluntary contribution. We will continue to honor the terms of the six-year agreement that is in place with the borough through the end of calendar year 2011.”
The funding that will be provided to Princeton Township comes from the university’s annual operating budget and will be transferred at a time in 2011 that is mutually convenient, Ms. Appelget said.

