Cambridge City Manager Hopeful PILOT Negotiations With Harvard Will End Early

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 said in a Friday interview he was optimistic that Cambridge’s ongoing negotiations with Harvard for a new Payment in Lieu of Taxes — or PILOT — agreement will conclude by the end of the calendar year.

PILOT programs ask tax-exempt nonprofit institutions with large endowments, like Harvard and MIT, to pay a fraction of what they would pay in property taxes to supplement the city’s budget.

Harvard has long-engaged in voluntary annual payments — in the form of both cash and other local programs or services — to Cambridge and Boston through separate PILOT agreements.

Huang said updates to the PILOT agreement in Cambridge — which is being renegotiated for the first time since 2004 — are sorely needed.

“A lot’s changed in 20 years,” Huang said. “The University has changed a lot. The city has changed a lot. Some of the challenges that we’re facing are not the same challenges that we were facing 20 years ago.”

In particular, Huang highlighted housing and education as key challenges he wanted to address in the new agreement.

Housing is “the deepest challenge that we face within the city, in terms of affordable housing and just the price of rent and homeownership in the city,” Huang said.

“That’s something that the University is tied up in, right?” Huang added, referring specifically to Harvard’s graduate students. “The reason why people want to be here is partly tied to the University.”

Huang acknowledged Harvard’s contributions to education in Cambridge, but said there is still room for improvement — particularly around racial and economic disparities in the city’s schools.

“Harvard does a lot with Cambridge Public Schools, with Cambridge youth, and there are a number of Cambridge students who then get to go to the University,” Huang said.

“But then there’s also a broader set of challenges,” he added, mentioning both “challenges with paying for college” and “significant disparities within the city in terms of educational outcomes.”

Harvard spokesperson Amy Kamosa, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that the University’s “collaborations with city and community leaders and support of city initiatives take many forms, including financial contributions, direct payments and taxes, and a wide range of partnerships and programs that integrate Harvard’s mission and expertise with local civic life.”

“We are engaged in ongoing conversations with the city to ensure that our programs and contributions in Cambridge are timely, relevant, and responsive to the needs of the community we call home,” Kamosa added.

While the new agreement is set to be implemented by June 2025, the end of the fiscal year, Huang said he was hopeful that negotiations would end by December.

“I think the University has been very responsive,” Huang said, “and there’s a close relationship across a whole number of different areas.”

“I feel like there’s always been a lot of good dialogue about whatever has happened within the city,” Huang added.

—Staff writer Benjamin Isaac can be reached at benjamin.isaac@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @benjaminisaac_1.

—Staff writer Avani B. Rai can be reached at avani.rai@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avaniiiirai.