SMITHFIELD – A bill that would force Bryant University to pay Smithfield for its use of the town’s police, rescue and fire services in the absence of a deal with the town passed the General Assembly this week, stirring sharp criticism from the university.
The legislation, which passed the state Senate on a 31-6 vote Monday evening after clearing the House Friday, would amend Bryant’s tax-exempt status so that Smithfield can bill any university for the services’ costs, barring a memorandum of agreement, starting March 1.
Bryant has called on Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee to veto the bill. In a statement released Tuesday, the university disparaged what it called “heavy-handed legislation [coming] after several months of good-faith discussions with the Town of Smithfield.”
Bryant noted its $800,000 in annual support to Smithfield, $300,000 of which is voluntary, as well as other economic benefits the university brings to its surroundings.
Bryant also cited the state’s payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, program, through which Rhode Island reimburses Smithfield with $500,000 each year to make up for Bryant’s tax-exempt status. Under the new legislation, the university argued, the town would “double-dip.”
Recent attempts to work out an agreement ended in further acrimony last month when Bryant President Ronald K. Machtley did not show up at a Town Council meeting on the issue and the two sides proposed vastly different payment amounts for a potential deal, The Valley Breeze reported at the time.
