Evanston Adopts Tax on College Tuition : Education: Mayor says she will veto the nation’s first such measure. Northwestern U. says it will sue the city.

EVANSTON, Ill. —  The City Council in this Chicago suburb has approved the nation’s first tax on college tuition, voting to charge students at Northwestern University and three other schools up to $60 a year.

Mayor Joan Barr immediately said she will veto the measure, and Northwestern threatened to take the city to court.

“I do not believe Evanston should be the very first community in the United States to tax education,” the mayor said. “Evanston has always taken pride in its educational excellence.”

The measure was approved 10 to 8 Monday night to make up for the property taxes from which the schools are exempt and to give tax relief to homeowners who saw higher bills in this community of 73,000 because of reassessment last year.

The council could override a veto by a two-thirds vote.

The tax of $15 per semester--or per quarter, depending on how the school’s academic year is set up--would generate an estimated $500,000 a year toward the city’s budget, which totaled $77.3 million in 1990-91, officials said.

The measure would apply to three other schools--Kendall College, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.

But the debate Monday night centered on Northwestern and its unwillingness to pay the city for police and fire protection. The university has its own security force but occasionally asks for assistance from Evanston police.

“All we are asking for is a basic principle, and that is a fair share,” said Alderman Jack Korshak, who proposed the measure. “Five dollars a month. Each of you can judge for yourself the extent to which this represents an insuperable burden to a student.”

University President Arnold Weber argued Northwestern students couldn’t handle the extra $60 because more than half of them already receive extensive financial aid. Most of the school’s nearly 10,500 students are undergraduates who pay tuition of $13,725 a year.

Weber called the tax “anti-education” and “anti-business” and said it would destroy the relationship between the city and its educational institutions. Northwestern, which owns 242 of the 5,400 acres in the community, has said it is typical for such institutions to be exempt from property taxes.

“We have focused on Northwestern--the big, the bad, and apparently, the ugly,” said Alderman David Nelson, who voted against the tax. “There are apparently going to be others caught up in the maelstrom.”

Northwestern officials have promised a court fight. They have pointed out that the school brings about 500,000 visitors a year to the city, pumps millions of dollars into the local economy and adds many cultural advantages.

No other U.S. city has a tuition tax, said Sheldon E. Steinbach, vice president and general counsel of the American Council on Education in Washington.

The council represents 1,500 colleges and universities nationwide.

Bob Goritz, an Evanston resident and a lawyer, argued that the tax would not stand up in court.

“No matter what verbiage you put on the measure, it’s a tax on the occupation of being a student,” he said.