PILOT AUDIT MUST BE DONE … OF COUSE, THAT ASSUMES A CITY WITH HONEST POLITICS
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION MARCH 13-5, 2026) — Recently, THE PLANET brought up one of the many the third-rail issues in the city. We refer to the PILOT program. Payment In Lieu of Taxes is a tax-avoidance strategy used in 82 of the Commonwealth’s 351 cities. Count Bitchfield as one of them, which ranks as “Good News” and “Bad News.”
As the saying goes, which do you want first?
Okay, the Good.
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This program at least allows the city to collect something, minuscule as it is, from the multitude of “non profit” companies and agencies that populate the locale. Something’s better than nothing, right?
Now the Bad.
It’s been decades since the city audited the roster of non-profits (NP), sometimes called “not for profit”–the preposition makes little difference. Because of this, taxpayers have no idea of the legitimacy the claims for NP eligibility. How many millions of dollars vanish from the payrolls as a result? Does ANYONE in office know … or care?
The city exempts NPs from
- Property tax
- Equipment tax
- Sales tax
- Taxes on ancillary income that otherwise be taxable
They nonetheless receive
- sewer
- water
- roads
- and all public benefits of taxpayers.
Not a bad deal, eh?
Taxpayers have a right to wonder:
- How many NPs are there?
- What agreements to they have with the city: How many were/are done with a handshake? How many have it in writing in the form of contracts?
- Is each NP meeting its promises? In Boston’s recent audit of its NPs, it found several not living up to their promises amounting to multi
- NPs count and puts a dollar value on its “public benefits.” How are these defined? What is the formula for figuring of their cash values? it provides?
Roughly $30 million in otherwise taxable property, plus another $5 million in equipment, sales, and ancillary amounts, are removed from the finances. That’s more than 15% of the current budget … an enormous figure that on its face seems excessive.
———- ooo ———-
Part of THE PLANET‘s digging has been interviewing current and former city office holders. None wanted to go on the record, but here is a summation of what they said:
“I have wondered about this [NP status] myself. I have strong suspicions there are at least a couple … that have returned ‘favors’ to certain people. Nothing I could prove [because] they cover it up pretty air tight. Audit? [LAUGHS] No way it would get past the mayor and council.”
“PILOT is a very hot button issue. Everyone wants more tax dollars in the city coffers until you mention their favorite NFP by name and then the gloves come off. Each and every one of these NFPs can’t been viewed just in what they don’t pay in property taxes. What do they provide to the community? How many community resources to they require? Do they have the police out every day? If they’re a NFP Drug Rehab facility are they serving only Berkshire County residents or are they shipping in folks from far away and using city resources without truly giving back?”
“One NFP that has #13 million in property value (that’s nearly $500,000 in lost taxes) gives their CEO nearly a million dollar compensation package every year. That’s not cool.”
A current office holder said they would “fully support” such an audit. When asked if they would initiate a petition and drum up support, the answer was no, with words to the effect of how it would end their political career. Of course, this is precisely the type of attitude that keeps the politics poisoned.
From another office holder: “Giving back can come in the form of many ways: Does the org use their facility to feed the poor (food bank in the basement)? … Does the org help the community (let AA meet in their building, build playgrounds for kids)? … Volunteer for community cleanups? … Give out scholarships? … Sponsor a little league team? The list goes on and on, but I think you get the point. I didn’t run for office for prestige or power. I certainly didn’t do it for the money (about $5/ hour according to my calculations). I didn’t do it because I’m bored. I did it because I think I can do some good …”
———- ooo ———-
To be sure, many of the NPs DO provide great community value and have earned their tax-exempt status. For THE PLANET, that’s all the more reason to perform an upright audit. Let the good ones shine and drive out the grifters.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
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“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge” — Charles Darwin.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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Pittsfield has an excessive number of non-profit organizations, but at the same time, there are still a lot of underclass residents there, too. “2 + 2 = 5”!
Instead of the non-profit organizations paying its directors 6-figure salaries, they should instead help the people who are in need.
Meanwhile, the fictional Kapanski’s are paying taxes for Pittsfield’s circus run by political clowns (who refuse to speak with blogger Dan Valenti).
At least three North street restaurants have gone out of business Since January.
You have an assortment of dubious Non Profits.
You have lucrative businesses getting significant tax breaks.
There are properties with iffy taxable valuations.
So many city employees have taxpayer vehicles that the city has nowhere to park them at night so the employees get to take them home and use them for their own personal transportation. This line item is about to go much higher with gasoline bumping up bigtime.
What will oil costs to heat schools this next coming years/
We have increasing inflation, rising interest rates, super high insurance rates, electricity going through the roof and whatever financial slamming this war is going to bring. Heating oil and gasoline costs could double within a month. Food high and going to go much higher with the gasoline/transportation costs rising.
Record numbers of people in the country not being able to pay their own mortgage. Record number of people having their vehicles repossessed because they cannot keep up with their car payments. Record number of people in deep credit card debt, so many, that some over leveraged banks may fail. Keep an eye on that one.
This suggests that record number of people may not be able to pay their property taxes Pete. Stop listening to the parasitic special interests and deal with the reality.
The mayor needs to man up and make drastic cuts NOW. Not nibble cuts around the edges but huge cuts from frills stuff first, today. He should have been making moderate cuts before but now he needs to chop with an axe. NOW.
And I hope that the people in media, who have much to lose from their readership subscriptions and advertising revenue, will step up and reinforce the obvious need. Because, I would suggest that cutting out a newspaper these days is one of the first cuts I would make. Not really a significant value-added expenditure.
MEAN
Absolutely correct about the need to make cuts. Frills first. The budget makers always plead hardship, as in, “We’re bare bones as it is. There are no frills.” That, of course, is nonsense. There’s plenty of the frilly stuff.
Dan, are you planning to cover the absolute circus currently unfolding courtesy of downtown business owner Frank from Brooklyn’s Best?
Because the man appears to be in the middle of a full-blown social media meltdown. We’re talking public attacks on the mayor, random call-outs of other people, vague threats, and the kind of ranting that makes you wonder if someone should gently take the phone away for the evening.
And then, of course, the grand finale: the claim that the reason he doesn’t receive city grants is because he’s an “old white guy.”
Yes. That’s apparently the explanation.
Not business performance. Not application processes. Not program criteria. No no. It’s discrimination against… old white men.
Frank has basically spent the past few days Trumping his way through Facebook comments while accidentally turning himself into the main character of his own meltdown.
Honestly, this feels extremely on-brand for Planet Valenti coverage. It has all the ingredients: local politics, social media chaos, wounded ego, and a public figure enthusiastically setting his own reputation on fire in real time.
Seems like a story that practically writes itself.
And it gets better.
Frank has now apparently moved into the AI art phase of the meltdown, which is always a strong indicator that things are going well. We’re talking AI-generated images of himself kicking Mayor Marchetti in the ass and fantasy merchandise that reads “I Survived North Street. Thanks Mayor Pete.”
Nothing says “serious civic discourse” quite like commissioning artificial intelligence to produce revenge cartoons of yourself as the hero of your own political fan fiction.
At this point the whole thing feels less like a policy dispute and more like a midlife crisis with a Wi-Fi connection.
If this keeps escalating, I fully expect the next round to include AI posters of Frank riding a bald eagle down North Street while personally defeating City Hall.
Honestly, the only surprising part is that someone hasn’t already turned the whole thing into a collectible NFT series.
Thanks, VAL. We have contacted Brooklyn’s Best. That was about a week ago. We haven’t heard anything back. I like how you put it: The story is writing itself.