$12.5 Billion of Providence’s $36 Billion in Property Is Exempt From Full Taxation
Colleges, hospitals, government, churches, a shopping mall and 80 owners under tax agreements pay the City less than the full rate. The rest of the city’s taxpayers carry the $352.7M levy.
Four ways property comes off the roll
The City’s 2025 roll lists every parcel with its assessed value, the part exempt from tax and the tax billed. Each reduced parcel falls under one of four regimes.
| Regime | Parcels | Exempt value | Tax billed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fully exempt: schools, hospitals, government, churches, charities | 2,488 | $10.58B | $0 |
| Tax stabilization agreements (RIGL 44-3-9) | 137 | $770.1M | $14.9M |
| 8% affordable-housing law (RIGL 44-5-13.11) | 639 | $741.1M | $12.4M |
| Homestead exemption, owner-occupied homes | 20,140 | $407.0M | $87.3M |
| Whole city | 44,062 | $12.51B | $352.7M |
City of Providence 2025 Property Tax Roll (data.providenceri.gov), 44,062 parcels after removing duplicate rows. Full rate read from the roll: commercial $29.20, residential $14.60 per $1,000.
Who holds the fully exempt property
Of the $10.58B that pays nothing, $3.40B belongs to the City, the State, the federal government, public authorities and the railroad, none of which the City can tax. The other $7.18B is private. At the full commercial rate it would owe $209.6M a year.
| Holder | Parcels | Exempt value | At full rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government | 884 | $3.34B | $97.7M |
| Higher ed | 331 | $3.28B | $95.8M |
| Hospital | 178 | $1.44B | $42.1M |
| Exempt by Council vote | 22 | $760.4M | $22.2M |
| Church | 450 | $521.9M | $15.2M |
| Private school/other education | 98 | $404.5M | $11.8M |
| Charity | 345 | $319.2M | $9.3M |
| Cemetery | 16 | $243.2M | $7.1M |
| Other nonprofit | 94 | $108.3M | $3.2M |
| Library | 13 | $71.0M | $2.1M |
| Railroad | 49 | $59.8M | $1.7M |
| Other health | 8 | $30.5M | $892K |
The institutions: full rate against what they pay
The largest private holders make voluntary payments to the City under negotiated agreements, called payments in lieu of taxes. Here is each one’s exempt property at the full rate, set against its payment.
| Institution | Exempt value | At full rate | Pays the City | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown University | $1.87B | $54.6M | $7.00M | 12.8% |
| RISD | $411.0M | $12.0M | $625K | 5.2% |
| Providence College | $575.5M | $16.8M | $725K | 4.3% |
| Johnson & Wales | $421.5M | $12.3M | $625K | 5.1% |
| Brown University Health | $1.06B | $30.8M | $750K | 2.4% |
| Care New England | $385.6M | $11.3M | none found | 0.0% |
| Providence Place | $730.8M | $21.3M | ~$500K | 2.3% |
Payments: colleges, 2023 agreements, first-year (FY2025) amounts, Rhode Island Current, Sept. 6, 2023; Brown University Health, agreement signed Nov. 15, 2024, $750,000 a year, City of Providence; Providence Place, 30-year agreement expiring 2028, about $500,000 a year, Providence Business News. RISD’s parcels carry no owner name on the roll and are matched by RISD’s mailing address, 2 College St.
The State also pays Providence for part of what it loses on college and hospital property. The law sets the reimbursement at up to 27 percent of the tax the property would have paid. Providence reported $139.8M in such tax. The State paid the City $37.3M in fiscal 2025, and the enacted budget for fiscal 2026 gives $39.8M. This is State aid to the City. It is not money from the institutions, and it does not change what they pay.
House Fiscal Advisory Staff, Local Aid, 2025 edition, Appendix VII; FY 2026 Budget as Enacted: State Aid to Local Governments. RIGL 45-13-5.1. Full figures: state-pilot.json.
Tax stabilization agreements
A tax stabilization agreement fixes a developer’s tax bill below the full rate for a set term, in exchange for building. The 2025 roll carries 137 parcels under these agreements, held by 80 owners. They were billed $14.9M; at the full rate they would owe $33.9M. The difference is $19.0M in one year.
The City’s Internal Auditor counts it the same way. Its FY2025 report lists 66 agreements billed $15.9M against $35.5M at full rate: $19.6M abated, at the rates before the 2025 revaluation.
| Owner | Address | Billed | At full rate | Abated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Street CV | 350 Eddy St | $434K | $3.5M | $3.0M |
| Providence, L.P. EM 28 | 125 Clifford St | $4K | $2.1M | $2.1M |
| River House Holdings I LLC | 1 Point St | $343K | $1.7M | $1.3M |
| Providence Innovation District Phase I Owner, LLC | 225 Dyer St | $310K | $1.5M | $1.1M |
| Laurelmead Realty LLC | 355 Blackstone Bl | $339K | $1.5M | $1.1M |
| PO LLC CC WCM-MP | 180 Friendship St | $202K | $971K | $769K |
| 100 N Main Owner LLC | 100 North Main St | $523K | $1.3M | $737K |
| 261, LLC | 10 Park Row West | $713K | $1.4M | $735K |
| 78 Fountain Street BAC LLC | 78 Fountain St | $402K | $1.1M | $725K |
| Ancora 150 Richmond Holdings LLC | 150 Richmond St | $54K | $771K | $718K |
| Owner LLC Biltmore Providence | 11 Dorrance St | $125K | $819K | $695K |
| Valley Stream Property LLC | 50 Convent St | $0 | $690K | $690K |
| CV South Street Landing LLC | 330 Eddy St | $117K | $690K | $573K |
| Aloft LLC BAC CVP | 191 Dorrance St | $45K | $556K | $511K |
| Branch Holdings LLC | 715 Branch Ave | $523K | $974K | $451K |
| Promenade Street Owner LLC | 25 Holden St | $766K | $1.1M | $289K |
| Prospect Chartercare RWMC,LLC | 17 Parkway Ave | $2.4M | $2.7M | $279K |
| Holdings I LLC CBWC | 95 Chestnut St | $21K | $296K | $275K |
| Exchange St Hotel LLC | 5 Exchange St | $211K | $418K | $206K |
| Foundation For Repertory Theatre Of RI Inc | 60 Adrian Hall Way | $10K | $211K | $201K |
The 20 largest by abatement. Full list: tsa-ledger.json. City of Providence, Office of the Internal Auditor, Report on Tax Stabilization Agreements, Fiscal Year 2025.
Who kept the terms
Each agreement comes with conditions: an annual report, fees, hiring rules. The Internal Auditor checked each of the 66 agreements against its conditions. 22 owners did not file the required annual report. For most of the hiring conditions, the auditor could not say whether they were met. The report puts the owners’ savings to date at $89.3M across the 55 agreements where it gives a figure.
| Condition | Met | Not met | Could not tell | Not required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual report filed with the City Clerk | 38 | 22 | 0 | 6 |
| Parks fee paid | 28 | 2 | 0 | 36 |
| Monitoring fee paid | 27 | 2 | 0 | 37 |
| First Source hiring agreement | 20 | 0 | 45 | 1 |
| Minority- and women-owned business participation | 21 | 1 | 44 | 0 |
| Apprenticeship requirement | 0 | 1 | 65 | 0 |
City of Providence, Office of the Internal Auditor, Report on Tax Stabilization Agreements, FY2025, Exhibit 1, one entry per agreement. “Could not tell” includes entries the report left blank. Every agreement, with its answers: tsa-report-fy2025.json.
Who carries it
MODEL The City sets its budget first and its tax rates second, so revenue not collected from one parcel is collected from the others. Holding the $352.7M levy fixed, this is what each regime means for the median owner-occupied home, billed $3,154, and the median two-to-five-family building a landlord rents out, billed $7,654.
| If this were collected | Share of levy | Homeowner | 2–5 family rental |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colleges and hospitals, after their payments and the state's 27% (modeled) | 25.8% | −$646 | −$1,569 |
| Tax stabilization agreements (abated, 2025 roll) | 5.4% | −$162 | −$392 |
| Providence Place (exempt by Council vote, net of ~$500K) | 5.9% | −$176 | −$427 |
| Churches, charities, private schools, cemeteries, libraries (full rate) | 14.1% | −$389 | −$944 |
Each row is computed on its own; the rows do not add. The model assumes the levy would not rise to absorb the money.
Not yet on the record
- Whether Care New England (Women & Infants, Butler) pays the City anything. No agreement was found.
- The Providence Place payment, now that the mall is in receivership.
- The year-by-year schedules in the 2023 college agreements.
- Why a few parcels under stabilization agreements are billed $0 this year.
Data
Every table above is built from these files: roll-summary.json · exempt-groups.json · institutions.csv · tsa-ledger.json · incidence.json · state-pilot.json · tsa-report-fy2025.json.