Alliance would pursue lost taxes

Officials in Framingham are reaching out to potential allies - including their counterparts in Newton, Milford, Marlborough, and Worcester - in an effort to persuade the state to help communities that host numerous social-service agencies to replace lost property tax revenues.

The issue of what some consider an oversaturation of tax-exempt agencies in town has long divided Framingham, which last week was sued by the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, a prominent, nonprofit agency headquartered there. The agency, also known as SMOC, filed a wide-ranging, 99-page federal lawsuit against nearly a dozen Framingham officials and private citizens, charging they had violated the civil rights of its clients by fostering a hostile atmosphere against people in need of SMOC's services and conspiring to rid the town of its disabled population.

In the months before the lawsuit was filed, Framingham hosted several meetings with officials from other communities to discuss, among other issues, possible legislation encouraging nonprofit property owners such as SMOC to include payments-in-lieu-of-property-taxes in their state contracts, said the town's human services coordinator, Alexis Silver.

SMOC owns an expansive headquarters in downtown Framingham, and runs a variety of shelters and programs for recovering drug addicts, the mentally ill, and former prison inmates.

Some residents and town officials say property values, and even the overall quality of life in Framingham, have suf fered because agencies like SMOC attract society's neediest members to town and keep them there to receive services.

An equally loud chorus of residents maintain that Framingham has a moral, humanitarian obligation to help the disadvantaged and sick, but should be reimbursed by the state for associated public safety and educational costs.

The new group of host communities is also exploring how to foster better regular communication with local social service organizations.

"There's a desire to get a better sense of what's going on in their communities," said John Robertson, deputy legislative director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. "There's a level of frustration that you can't coordinate municipal services, like educating students, if you don't know who is there and what they may need."

Robertson, who attended one of the Framingham meetings, said Massachusetts towns have been concerned for decades about the financial burden of hosting tax-exempt schools, hospitals, and churches.

But in recent years, more attention has been paid to social-service agencies that attract people with many needs and consume significant amounts of police, fire, and educational services without paying property taxes into town coffers, he said.

The suit filed by SMOC demands unspecified financial damages and an injunction forcing the town to approve the agency's plan to move Sage House, a shelter for recovering drug addicts and their families, to a larger building.

Other local host communities report smoother relations with their social-service agencies.

Newton is interested in the general issue but has no plans to pressure its nonprofit organizations to change their operations, said city spokesman Jeremy Solomon.

Newton's village-style neighborhoods have kept any single agency from having a particularly large presence, and many of the groups are seen as assisting as many, if not more, Newton residents than out-of-towners.

"We understand and appreciate the services that are provided by our nonprofits, and we value them," Solomon said.

Marlborough, on the other hand, has a few shelters, including one owned by SMOC, that house clients who are not from Marlborough.

The city has privately negotiated payments-in-lieu-of-taxes with a few nonprofits, said City Council president Arthur Vigeant.

"We're interested to hear more, that is for sure," he said.

Erica Noonan can be reached at .