Office of the Assemblies

Dear Valeria,

 

Thank you for conveying to me SA Resolution 25. Cornell and the City of Ithaca have long recognized the importance of each entity to the other, and their respective roles in the quality of life of the community and its residents. There is no doubt that part of what makes Cornell special is its location in Ithaca, and it’s just as clear that the City of Ithaca would not be as special without Cornell. We both benefit from this relationship, and from our many partnerships on so many issues of common interest – partnerships that we are confident will continue to flourish for the benefit of our campus and the broader community. I have asked our Vice President for University Relations, Joel Malina, to describe the many ways in which we support that relationship.

 

Sincerely,

 

Martha E. Pollack

 

Dear Valeria,

 

Thank you to you and the SA for Resolution 25. As President Pollack stated, Cornell and the City of Ithaca have a mutually beneficial relationship. Cornell has supported the City of Ithaca via annual voluntary contributions since 1995, and we have every intention of entering into a new agreement prior to the expiration of the current agreement on June 30, 2024. The current agreement, with built-in annual CPI adjustments, provides support for the City of Ithaca Fire Department as well as other funds to be used at the city’s discretion. In addition to the voluntary contribution and the property taxes generated by Cornell-owned properties, the university pays an assortment of user fees to the City of Ithaca (totaling $1.8 million in the current fiscal year), including stormwater management fees, sewer fees, and sidewalk enhancements, all of which are important components of the financial support that flows from Cornell to the city. 

 

While we appreciate the SA’s advocacy on behalf of the City of Ithaca, the resolution contains several inaccuracies and makes other assertions that lack important context. For instance, the resolution references university revenue (which we estimate will be around $5.65 billion in the current fiscal year), but not the estimated $5.7 billion in expenses we expect to incur. In addition, roughly half of expenses and revenue are due to operations outside of the Ithaca area, primarily in New York City. As President Pollack has often noted in her remarks to the assemblies, with such extremely narrow (if not negative) margins, adding expenses somewhere means cutting expenditures elsewhere, and our top priority must remain ensuring an affordable Cornell education, provided by excellent faculty in state-of-the-art facilities. That is not an inexpensive proposition, and, as I am sure the SA will appreciate, we cannot simply increase tuition to cover any and all new expenses.

 

The resolution also notes the size of Cornell’s endowment. However, endowments are not bank accounts, as donors stipulate how their gift to the endowment shall be spent. If someone donates funds specifically to pay a professor’s salary, Cornell is legally bound to ensure that the endowment continues to pay for that salary, year after year after year. And when the resolution references the commitments that certain of our Ivy League peers have made to their home municipalities, it fails to note the comparative wealth of those institutions. Cornell’s current endowment per student at fiscal year ended June 2022 is $395,000. By comparison, Princeton has an endowment per student of $4,068,000.

 

The resolution’s one-sided characterization of Cornell’s relationship with the City of Ithaca further ignores all that the city gains from Cornell, some of which is detailed in our annual economic impact snapshot. The city has also benefited from the life-saving financial investments and extraordinary efforts made by Cornell in the interest of the entire community during COVID; extensive faculty, staff, and student volunteerism; and financial support for many vital local institutions and efforts, including the Ithaca City School District, Ithaca Area Economic Development, the Community Housing Development Fund, a host of non-profits, and TCAT.

 

Regarding TCAT, the resolution makes an unfortunate and inaccurate connection between current service challenges and funding for the transit system. TCAT has been dealing with an acute shortage of bus drivers and mechanics, which has affected their ability to maintain their full route schedule. This is the case despite their solid financial position: TCAT projects a surplus of $3.1 million for the current fiscal year, with a total fund balance of $10.9 million. Despite this surplus, the three local TCAT underwriters (Cornell, the City of Ithaca, and Tompkins County) agreed to a 5% increase in underwriter funding for TCAT operations earlier this year. The resolution further fails to account for the $3.33 million that Cornell is paying TCAT this year to subsidize the cost of Cornell’s OmniRide bus pass, available to employees and students. All in all, Cornell provides 70% of the total funds paid to TCAT by the three local funders.

 

We appreciate the SA’s engagement with these important issues for our community.

 

Sincerely,

 

Joel Malina

 

Vice President for University Relations

Cornell University

 

Dear Valeria,

 

Thank you for conveying to me SA Resolution 25. Cornell and the City of Ithaca have long recognized the importance of each entity to the other, and their respective roles in the quality of life of the community and its residents. There is no doubt that part of what makes Cornell special is its location in Ithaca, and it’s just as clear that the City of Ithaca would not be as special without Cornell. We both benefit from this relationship, and from our many partnerships on so many issues of common interest – partnerships that we are confident will continue to flourish for the benefit of our campus and the broader community. I have asked our Vice President for University Relations, Joel Malina, to describe the many ways in which we support that relationship.

 

Sincerely,

 

Martha E. Pollack

 

Dear Valeria,

 

Thank you to you and the SA for Resolution 25. As President Pollack stated, Cornell and the City of Ithaca have a mutually beneficial relationship. Cornell has supported the City of Ithaca via annual voluntary contributions since 1995, and we have every intention of entering into a new agreement prior to the expiration of the current agreement on June 30, 2024. The current agreement, with built-in annual CPI adjustments, provides support for the City of Ithaca Fire Department as well as other funds to be used at the city’s discretion. In addition to the voluntary contribution and the property taxes generated by Cornell-owned properties, the university pays an assortment of user fees to the City of Ithaca (totaling $1.8 million in the current fiscal year), including stormwater management fees, sewer fees, and sidewalk enhancements, all of which are important components of the financial support that flows from Cornell to the city. 

 

While we appreciate the SA’s advocacy on behalf of the City of Ithaca, the resolution contains several inaccuracies and makes other assertions that lack important context. For instance, the resolution references university revenue (which we estimate will be around $5.65 billion in the current fiscal year), but not the estimated $5.7 billion in expenses we expect to incur. In addition, roughly half of expenses and revenue are due to operations outside of the Ithaca area, primarily in New York City. As President Pollack has often noted in her remarks to the assemblies, with such extremely narrow (if not negative) margins, adding expenses somewhere means cutting expenditures elsewhere, and our top priority must remain ensuring an affordable Cornell education, provided by excellent faculty in state-of-the-art facilities. That is not an inexpensive proposition, and, as I am sure the SA will appreciate, we cannot simply increase tuition to cover any and all new expenses.

 

The resolution also notes the size of Cornell’s endowment. However, endowments are not bank accounts, as donors stipulate how their gift to the endowment shall be spent. If someone donates funds specifically to pay a professor’s salary, Cornell is legally bound to ensure that the endowment continues to pay for that salary, year after year after year. And when the resolution references the commitments that certain of our Ivy League peers have made to their home municipalities, it fails to note the comparative wealth of those institutions. Cornell’s current endowment per student at fiscal year ended June 2022 is $395,000. By comparison, Princeton has an endowment per student of $4,068,000.

 

The resolution’s one-sided characterization of Cornell’s relationship with the City of Ithaca further ignores all that the city gains from Cornell, some of which is detailed in our annual economic impact snapshot. The city has also benefited from the life-saving financial investments and extraordinary efforts made by Cornell in the interest of the entire community during COVID; extensive faculty, staff, and student volunteerism; and financial support for many vital local institutions and efforts, including the Ithaca City School District, Ithaca Area Economic Development, the Community Housing Development Fund, a host of non-profits, and TCAT.

 

Regarding TCAT, the resolution makes an unfortunate and inaccurate connection between current service challenges and funding for the transit system. TCAT has been dealing with an acute shortage of bus drivers and mechanics, which has affected their ability to maintain their full route schedule. This is the case despite their solid financial position: TCAT projects a surplus of $3.1 million for the current fiscal year, with a total fund balance of $10.9 million. Despite this surplus, the three local TCAT underwriters (Cornell, the City of Ithaca, and Tompkins County) agreed to a 5% increase in underwriter funding for TCAT operations earlier this year. The resolution further fails to account for the $3.33 million that Cornell is paying TCAT this year to subsidize the cost of Cornell’s OmniRide bus pass, available to employees and students. All in all, Cornell provides 70% of the total funds paid to TCAT by the three local funders.

 

We appreciate the SA’s engagement with these important issues for our community.

 

Sincerely,

 

Joel Malina

 

Vice President for University Relations

Cornell University