BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY FEB. 16, 2026) —THE PLANET noticed with interest how Boston’s Wu Administration used the PILOT program to get Wentworth Institute of Technology to resume cash payments to the city after years of the school getting a free ride on the backs of taxpayers.

Wentworth had stop making cash payments to Boston for “the last several years due to [alleged] financial challenges brought about by the pandemic,” according to Mayor Michelle Wu’s office. We’ve lost track of how often the “pandemic” has been used as the excuse to gyp citizens. Someone remind us, eh?

This brings up the question of how many other “non profits” have done the same thing that Wentworth pulled? Yes, we’re wondering about that for the great city of Pittsfield, run by an administration that treats auditing and accountability the way Dracula treats garlic and mirrors. We’ll get to that in a moment.

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Under the five-year Wentworth deal, Boston will only get $400,000 in cash. The remainder of the $5.6 million valuation will come from Wentworth providing “community benefits (CB).”  CBs have long been a shifty aspect of the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes arrangement. Nonetheless, the PILOT program establishes the understanding that so-called “non profit” agencies should morally pay something for the privilege of having to pay their way the same as homeowners and firms in the Dreaded Private Sector.

The tax-free status of “non-profit” companies has long been a magnet for the more unscrupulous, attracting the long gray line of grifters and “community activists” who rake in the dough without having to pay their fair share of taxes.

The Boston-Wentworth situation brings us to wonder about the status of PILOT in Pittsfield. One never–and we mean never–hears any official talk about this. Can you imagine Peter Marchetti taking the bold action that Michelle Wu did in Boston?

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It leads THE PLANET to a few questions:

• When was the last time the city provided to taxpayers local PILOT data?
• How many “not-for-profit” companies (whose directors often make handsome profits) are in the city?
• Can we have a listing of all of them?
• Can we have the PILOT status for each of these businesses?
  • For each, is there an agreement in place for how much the business owes the city in lieu of taxes?
  • What is the formula or direction for determining a company’s PILOT contributions? For example, would an agency pay 25% of what they would be due under normal taxation?
    • For each where there is such an agreement, has the business paid in full?
    • If not, what percentage of cash and “community benefits” how much does the agency owe? In Boston, the cities PILOT institutions met just 76% of their collective $128.79 million payments. THE PLANET suspects the Pittsfield percentage is much lower.
    • How does Bitchfield define “community benefits” and how are they valued?
    • Will the city undertake and provide the results of a full audit of the PILOT agencies?
• How does a company obtain “non-profit” status in the first place?
• Who decides?

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THE PLANET submits this issue to the following, along with the challenge to do something:

• To the Berkshire Eagle, assign an investigative team to determine the answers to the PILOT questions.
  • Pressure city leaders to take action through an aggressive editorial stance. Name names.
• To the mayor, immediately begin an examination of all non-profit businesses and keep the public informed.
  • Do they still warrant non-profit status?
  • Do they have PILOT understandings with the city? If not, why not? If so, are they meetings their obligations?
• To the city council, submit legislation to the mayor requiring such a probe.

Under THE PLANET‘s rough and quick analysis, there are millions of dollars outstanding from derelict PILOT reimbursements to be harvested on behalf of bedraggled taxpayers. To claim even some of this money would have three incredibly beneficial effects:

1. It would lower property taxes for homeowners and businesses
2. It would more than pay for the costs of an audit.
3. It would provide money for a forensic audit of all city departments.

THE PLANET has outlined a no-brainer here, a win-win-win. All that’s needed now if for the local daily newspaper, the mayor, and/or at least six councilors to grow a pair.

What do you think, folks? Will they?

P.S. We sent a copy of this column to each city council member and the mayor. What’s the high/low on how many of these 12 will acknowledge it or comment?

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“How many CEOs and executive directives have gotten rich with profits as head of so-called ‘non-profit’ agencies?“– Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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