Editorial Columns

Penn State Contributes Broadly to the Local Community

Centre County, with the lowest unemployment rate in the state and one of the fastest growing per capita incomes, is known for its exceptional quality of life and its dynamic economic expansion. Central to the growth and vitality of the area is The Pennsylvania State University. As the largest enterprise in Central Pennsylvania, Penn State has an economic impact that touches virtually everyone who lives here.

There has been a good deal of discussion about Penn State's proper role in the community. In light of that discussion, I think it is important to remind people of what Penn State does for the Centre Region beyond its basic functions of teaching, research and service, which collectively have established Penn State as one of the premier public universities in the nation.

There is no university in America that contributes as much to its surrounding community as Penn State does -- with in-kind support services, with donations of land, with access to university expertise and facilities, and financially through taxes and in-lieu of tax payments.

The 39,500 students on our University Park campus, together with the 9,600 full-time and 9,300 part-time employees (many of whom are students), contribute directly to the local economy through spending that reaches several hundred million dollars per year. Employees as well as the 25,000 students living in off campus housing contribute to the community through property taxes, and we all contribute to sales taxes and state and local income taxes. Many of Penn State's operations do pay taxes, contrary to popular belief.

But beyond the flow of individual taxes and spending that results from the University's presence, Penn State strives to be a good neighbor through direct and indirect contributions to the local community and local governments. These contributions enrich the quality of life for all who live here and save local municipalities and school districts millions of dollars annually.

Public universities throughout the United States, along with not-for-profit private institutions, have always been tax-exempt. A recent court ruling has reaffirmed Penn State's status as an instrumentality of the Commonwealth, thus making the University immune from any local taxation. Yet, despite Penn State's not-for-profit status, Penn State has voluntarily agreed to provide the State College Area School District and 5 local municipalities more than $1 million per year in lieu of taxes.

That agreement, however, is only a small portion of what we give to the community. The University Park Airport terminal was constructed on University land that was sold to the Centre County Airport Authority for $1. This is a pretty good deal for local taxpayers.

A similar arrangement exists for the bus terminal, which we lease to the Boro for $1 per year. Centre Community Hospital sits on approximately 30 acres of land which Penn State donated so that the local community could have a hospital. Penn State donated the land to make the 322 Bypass possible. We also recently provided, for $1 per year, 63 acres of land to the Centre Region Recreation Authority to develop a regional nature center, Mill Brook Marsh Nature Preserve, which will protect an ecologically sensitive area. A similar 50 year lease at $1 per year will allow the Centre County Historical Society to expand its historical display on both sides of Porter Road.

The University provides its own police force and contributes cash payments to Alpha Fire Company while also providing, free of charge, the land for the Alpha Fire training facility. In addition, our employees constitute the majority of volunteers to the fire company, and in many cases we allow them to fight fires in the community on university time. We also provide the region's HAZMAT team and provide local police and emergency service agencies with explosive ordinance technicians, drug detection canine services, polygraph services, community education and faculty expert testimony.

In addition, the University makes nearly all of its facilities available to local residents, providing educational, cultural, sporting, entertainment and recreational opportunities available to all who live here.

These include use of Pattee Library (where local use represents costs of approximately $900,000 to the total Pattee budget); free access to Rec Hall, the Intramural Building, and the playing fields; use of tennis facilities and the ice rink; and entrance to the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum, Frost Entomological Museum, The Palmer Museum of Art (the largest art collection between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), and the Zoller Gallery. The McCoy Natatorium is used by community swimming groups. We provide speech and hearing clinics and psychological counseling services. We support the Stone Valley Recreation Area and Shavers Creek, the University golf courses, the University Resident Theater, the Artist's Series, PA Centre Stage, and Music at Penn's Woods. We support and help host the Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

In many communities, governments are spending local tax dollars to construct stadiums and arenas because of the tremendous financial benefits these facilities provide to the local community and its economy. In the case of Beaver Stadium and the Bryce Jordan Center, both were constructed without the use of any local tax dollars. The Bryce Jordan Center was built with $33 million in state funding, coupled with more than $20 million in corporate and private donations. During the construction phase, the Jordan Center generated 1,125 jobs with a total economic impact of more than $70 million. The Jordan Center alone is expected to account for $23.9 million in annual economic activity in the area, along with 504 jobs.

A 1987 study of the impact of Penn State football in the Centre Region demonstrated that the thousands of fans who travel more than 25 miles to attend a game contribute tens of millions of dollars per year to the local economy.

Penn State is contributing to Centre County in more ways than most people realize. We take our role in the community seriously. We are proud of this community and the ways that we have helped to make it better.

We know our role in the community will always be central to any discussion of the area's future. It is important that this be the case. But it is equally important to know just how much the University provides and the lengths it goes to make Centre County a better place for all of us to live. That has been missing from much of the recent conversation.