Comments on: … and hell froze over.

By: Emme Kay

Emme Kay — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:12:37 +0000

My health insurance for years was UPMC. The result is that reading those initials have me fighting a horrible case of keyboard Tourette’s syndrome. Razza frazza…

By: bucdaddy

bucdaddy — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:38:47 +0000

Well, square-mileage-wise, it’s not a big city. People just tend to think it is because they lump the 110 or 120 surrounding municipalities into “Pittsburgh.”

But still … more than half? Wow. That’s a lot of colleges and churches.

By: Tina

Tina — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:31:08 +0000

To answer your question about the deal that UPMC made with Pittsburgh Public was in the Post-Gazette today:

Pittsburgh Public Schools solicitor Ira Weiss was unsettled by the mayor’s decision to challenge UPMC because he worried it would jeopardize the funding for the Promise, around $100 million over 10 years. Under the Promise, the district agreed it would never challenge UPMC’s tax status or seek tax income.

If push comes to shove, the district will do whatever it needs to protect the agreement, Mr. Weiss said.

So UPMC has avoided paying a possible $25 million a year in property taxes by paying $10 million a year to the Pittsburgh Promise. (That is .18% of UPMC’s yearly revenue)

The UPMC spokesperson has said if they run their business like government UPMC wouldn’t be in business. I would say this is true because UPMC wouldn’t be able to just raise rates without public awareness and a public vote, doesn’t have to deal with voters ever 2-4 years, wouldn’t be allowed to have a CEO useing his private jet and helicopter, and UPMC would actually have to offer services for free or at a lower cost.

By: JackR

JackR — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:42:55 +0000

More than half of the real estate in the city is tax exempt. It’s well past time to question the entire idea of tax exempt status. UPMC is certainly the most visible but also consider the buildings that have been purchased by local universities and then taken off the tax rolls. It will be interesting to see if a new line will be drawn to identify true non-profits from the pretenders.

By: Sam's Dog

Sam's Dog — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:00:20 +0000

Helicopter, jet, -hey a not-for profit CEO has to get around. Am I right?