Queens pols want big universities in NYC to pay their ‘fair share’
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Queens Senator John Liu, Assemblymember Zohran Mamadani and Assemblymember Ron Kim are pitching legislation that would have New York’s wealthy universities start paying property taxes. Photo via Senator John Liu/Twitter
By Ryan Schwach
A group of Queens lawmakers took aim at two of the city’s most powerful universities this week, demanding they pay their “fair share” of property taxes to directly fund their public counterparts.
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and State Senator John Liu introduced legislation this week that would revoke Columbia University’s and New York University’s property tax exemptions, which the lawmakers say have led to an inequitable higher educational landscape in New York City.
The two-bill package would repeal around $320 million of tax exemptions for the two universities, which own large swaths of land in Manhattan, and then infuse that money into CUNY, which has seen financial struggles for decades.
“It's time for Columbia and NYU to repair their relationship with the city of New York and with the working class of New York City,” said Mamdani in front of Columbia on Tuesday. “What that repair looks like, is repealing the property tax exemption that allows two of the largest private property holders in New York City to be exempt from paying property taxes and reinvesting that more than $320 million annually into the City University of New York so that we can finally live up to the promise where every single student who desires a quality higher education can receive that very education.”
According to the lawmakers, Columbia would have had to pay $179 million last year if they had been paying property taxes, and NYU would have had to dish out $142 million.
“I think it's time to not only reexamine, but repeal these very expensive tax breaks,” said Liu.
The tax exemptions are enshrined in section 1 of article 16 of the state constitution – ratified in 1938 – and specifically allows for exemptions for religious, educational or charitable institutions.
Officials argue that although the exemptions made sense at the time, they have become outdated due to how large the colleges have become.
“The great people of New York decided in their collective wisdom…that it would be prudent and in fact beneficial to help our nonprofits with these property tax breaks, and to support their causes and without burdening the taxpayers of New York immensely,” said Liu, who formerly served as the city’s comptroller. “Well, it's 2023…these nonprofit organizations continue to flourish in New York but a couple of them are now costing the city treasury $320 million a year and growing.”
Other large New York private institutions, like St. John’s University in Queens, Fordham in the Bronx and others are not included in the bill, because it establishes a threshold only for schools who would be paying more than $100 million a year in property taxes, which includes only NYU and Columbia.
The legislation is broken into two separate bills sponsored by Mamdani in the Assembly and Liu in the Senate. Even if they gain support in the legislature, there are a few more steps to getting the property taxes back on the books.
Since the exemptions themselves are constitutional, the bill needs to be passed in two consecutive legislative sessions to amend the document, and then there would need to be a state referendum on the bill. Then, the second bill – which establishes the repeal and gives the money to CUNY – would need to be passed as well and then signed by the governor.
Both Liu and Mamdani aren’t worried about the costs would come down on the backs of Columbia and NYU students, should the legislation pass.
“These universities have combined endowments of over $20 billion,” said Mamdani. “Any claim that they would have to increase student tuition to pay for their property taxes is unfounded and an attempt to distract from their status as two of the top private property owners in NYC.”
“If we are focused on the impact this would have on working class New Yorkers, more than 100,000 CUNY undergraduates are from families who make less than $30,000 a year,” he added. “Meanwhile, fewer and fewer New Yorkers have even attended Columbia and NYU over the years – between 2010 and 2022, the share of Columbia’s students from NYC went from 25 to 15 percent of students.”
While private schools like NYU and Columbia “continue to flourish,” New York’s CUNY system, which has five campuses in Queens, has struggled with infrastructure issues and underpaid adjunct faculty.
“We stand here at a time when the City University of New York faces annual budget cuts, and the reality is that only 8 percent of its buildings are in a state of good repair,” said Mamdani.
Elected officials want to see higher ed institutions, including New York University, pay millions in property taxes and want to see the money go to CUNY public colleges. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
In May, a report from Comptroller Brad Lander showed that cuts to CUNY in the last budget could see cuts to programmatic and course offerings for students.
In Fiscal Year 2023, the school system saw $155 million in cuts, resulting in the loss of 235 faculty and staff positions, according to the report.
CUNY faculty and students spoke on Tuesday in support of the plan.
“CUNY is the largest public urban university system in the country,” said James Davis, chair of the CUNY faculty and staff union. “Our colleges helped more working class students move themselves into the middle class than any colleges in the entire country, including the Ivy League's put together.”
“CUNY is a wise investment from a fiscal perspective,” he added. “They are the anchor institutions across the five boroughs. They are part of the very fabric of the city.”
A Hunter College student, Johanna Von Maack, also spoke about issues she faces at CUNY and why more funding is needed.
“Students deal with poor infrastructure, broken escalators, faulty elevators, and leaky ceilings, which can interfere with class attendance,” she said. “I bet that you can ask any CUNY students and they'll have a few stories to tell. But this isn't what the college experience is supposed to look like. Some might argue, ‘Well, you go to CUNY. What do you expect?’ To which I can only say that that is a ridiculous thing to ask.”
The lawmakers said this week that they aren’t looking to vilify the big schools or their students, but believe it's time they pay their fair share, to the benefit of the struggling CUNY system.
“I’m not here to criticize or ostracize any institutions," said Liu, a longtime Columbia faculty member. “Make no mistake, it is my belief that the two institutions that would be affected by this legislation directly contribute greatly to New York City, academically, economically, culturally.”
“At a time when [CUNY] continues to be more and more starved of resources, we are talking about public resources here,” he added.
A spokesperson for Columbia University told the Eagle that they will look at the legislation.
“We are reviewing the legislation but will underscore that we are a world-class research university and, beyond the financial resources we provide to our local community—from Morningside Heights to Harlem, Washington Heights and the city at large—we also have substantial economic impact through research, staff and faculty time investment, space to the community and other support,” the spokesperson said. “To name some real-life examples, Columbia research averted the L-Train closure, our athletic complex became a field hospital during the pandemic, and we opened our residence halls to doctors and healthcare workers. Columbia has long served as one of the major economic drivers of the city.”
NYU did not respond to the Eagle’s request for comment.
