Providence Mayor Brett Smiley announced on Tuesday that Brown University, Providence College, Johnson and Wales and the Rhode Island School of Design have agreed to increase the amount of their voluntary payments to the city.
The "payment in lieu of tax" or PILOT agreement will balloon to over two-hundred-million dollars over the next twenty years.
That is more than double the previous amount.
Smiley said Providence is setting a national example on how to better-define the relationship with institutions of higher education who are exempt from property taxes, and are also vital to the city's success.