St. Paul ponders fee on college students

12/29/2005

A proposal would charge $25 per college or university student for public services. College officials are wary.

Jackie Crosby,
Star Tribune
Last update: December 29, 2005 – 6:55 AM

St. Paul’s colleges and universities may feel the jolt of a tax revolt if an idea being floated by City Council Member Jay Benanav becomes a reality.

Benanav, whose ward includes the University of St. Thomas and Hamline University, is researching whether the city should charge institutions of higher education a per-student fee of $25 to pay for police and fire services. State law exempts schools and other nonprofit organizations from paying property taxes.

“Not that colleges don’t add to the quality of life,” Benanav said. “But we provide all sorts of public safety services that they don’t pay for and that get paid for by property owners and businesses.”

Several school officials said that they were wary of Benanav’s plan, but that they want to see details before commenting. David Laird, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, was less cautious, saying, “the logic here is dubious and the legality is as well.”

Laird’s organization represents 17 private colleges and universities statewide, six of them in St. Paul. Taken together, the schools are the second-largest private employer in St. Paul, he said. In 2004, they paid about $1.9 million in assessments and fees to the city.

Laird said he worried that any effort to make it more difficult to recruit top students could have a troublesome ripple effect.

“I would caution Mr. Benanav to think of the whole equation rather than doing a unilateral intervention,” Laird said.

St. Paul has 11 colleges and universities. (Those numbers don’t include the part of the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus that is in nearby Falcon Heights.) About 32,000 full-time students attend the city’s eight largest institutions, meaning a $25 fee could generate $800,000 or more.

About a third of the city is owned by tax-exempt organizations, including schools, religious institutions, hospitals and government. The city collects right-of-way assessments for snow plowing, street sweeping and tree trimming.

Laurie Hamre, Macalester College’s vice president for student affairs, urged city leaders not to forget that students live, work and spend their money in St. Paul.

“To say they don’t pay for services is one thing, but to think of how the students contribute and support the community—we don’t want that lost in the conversation,” she said.

Macalester senior Chelsey Olsen, 21, has relied on a good job and generous grants to help deal with tuition costs that have risen about 6 percent each year. She said a $25 fee “wouldn’t break the bank. ... But if the grant money wasn’t there, it’d be a little outrageous because nothing would be coming back my way.”

It’s unclear how much support Benanav would have among his colleagues.

Council President Kathy Lantry backs the idea. Her ward includes Metropolitan State University. Council Member Pat Harris, who represents Macalester College and the College of St. Catherine, said that he would reserve judgment until a plan were presented but that he wasn’t sure a one-size-fits-all solution was the best answer for public safety.

Benanav acknowledged that he’s just now starting to look seriously at the issue.

“We’ve got homeowners looking at a 25 percent increase in their taxes,” he said. “We have to find other revenue streams to finance city government.”