Key points

• Cornell owns about $8 million of taxable property in the City of Ithaca and pays about $96,000 in taxes.
• Cornell owns $2.7 billion in tax-exempt property.
• If all of Cornell’s properties were taxable and Cornell paid the tax rate for 2023 — which is $12 per $1,000 in property value — it would pay roughly $32.5 million in taxes.
• If Cornell University and Ithaca College paid taxes on all their properties, the property tax for an average house in Ithaca would drop between 40–45%. 
• Under the current MOU, Cornell contributed a $1.6 million PILOT to the city in 2023.
• Ithaca must set the tax rate and budget for 2024 and Cornell has said it will contribute nothing if the city does not accept its offer of $4 million annually.