"Is it a fair trade-off?" she asked.

Triantafillou said it was this question that prompted her to bring this issue before the council.

Harvard and Cambridge first agreed to an "in lieu of taxes" agreement in 1969, Maloney said. The agreement was driven in part by the realization that any legal battle that would ensue as the parties tried to reach an agreement would be costly, he explained.

At the end of the original 20-year agreement in 1989, the two parties came to terms on a new 10-year contract. Each year, the agreement is reviewed and the amount of in lieu of taxes paid are updated, he said.

Maloney added that Harvard has adhered to the 1989 agreement "without exception."

In other business, the council voted on and approved a resolution joining Boston, Chelsea and other communities in opposition to a Massport proposal to build a new runway at Logan Airport which would lead to increased air traffic over those cities and over Cambridge.

The project, called "Runway 14/32," would lead to "a tripling of planes in this direction," said James M. Williamson, a Cambridge resident and a member of the runway opposition group Communities Against Runway Expansion (CARE).