NORWALK — Job seekers interesting in helping build The SoNo Collection are encouraged to attend an open house in South Norwalk next week.
The “Construction Jobs & Bidding Opportunities Community Open House” is scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m. May 11 on the second floor of the office building at 149 Water St.
The open house comes as General Growth Properties prepares to begin excavation work for the nearly million-square-foot regional shopping center off West Avenue and Interstate 95 in South Norwalk.
“The open house on May 11th is to introduce our contractor to the community and make the community aware of the construction job opportunities that will be available over the next two and a half years while The SoNo Collection is being built,” said GGP Senior Director Douglas T. Adams. “Local employment is important to us and our commitment is memorialized in the agreement with the city and the agency.”
All interested residents and businesses are encouraged to attend the open house, where they will be able to learn about training, employment and contracting opportunities associated with The SoNo Collection.
GGP has hired VCC-USA, a national firm, and Connecticut-based KBE Building Corp. as its general contractors for the project. CallisonRTKL is the project architect.
The Chicago-based developer has projected that The SoNo Collection will generate 1,745 construction jobs in Norwalk, employed at an average salary of $86,500, during the 30-month construction period.
Under the Land Disposition Agreement governing The SoNo Collection, GGP and its contractors must prioritize Norwalk-based and other lower Fairfield County based Disadvantaged Business Enterprises for bidding on and performing work during the construction of the mall.
Priority must be given to persons living in the three highest-poverty rate zip codes in the city, followed by Norwalk residents in general, followed by Fairfield County residents, followed by Connecticut residents.
Adams said the May 11 open house will be the first of many events related to construction hiring.
“We look forward to getting construction under way later this month, and continue to work diligently with the city and agency to remove the hotel requirement from the project,” Adams said.
The approved site plan calls for 728,000 square feet of retail space, including anchor stores Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, as well as 80 to 100 smaller retailers, public realm space and the hotel on the site.
The open house comes as GGP seeks Common Council and Norwalk Redevelopment Agency approvals to remove the hotel from the approved plan.
GGP has deemed the hotel, offices or housing as infeasible as third uses for the mall. The company would pay the city $3.5 million in anticipated lost property taxes. Mayor Harry W. Rilling said the city is exploring how the payment could be used to benefits residents. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tax deal reached on Oxford power plant
With construction of a natural-gas-fired power plant in town well underway, Oxford finally reached a tax agreement Monday with the company building the facility.
First Selectman George Temple, who announced this week he is running for a fourth term this fall, said the deal will let the town cut taxes while providing stability for the life of the agreement.
“This is a long-term tax stabilization agreement,” he said. “This way we know how much we’re getting every year. I have to look at who’s going to be in my seat 20 years from now.”
The agreement with Maryland-based Competitive Power Ventures is worth $117.6 million in tax revenue for the town over the next 22 years, including $5 million at the start of the deal. The plan was passed by a voice vote in a meeting attended by several hundred people at Quaker Farms Elementary School on Monday.
The deal came a year after a similar tax plan was twice rejected, first at a meeting similar to Monday’s and then in a townwide referendum.
Some power plant opponents said the town had not provided adequate notice of Monday’s meeting and then rushed through a positive vote.
Temple said the town had met all requirements in providing notice. The vote was held the same night the town budget was approved for a referendum, he said, adding the budget could not be finalized without the power plant deal.
Notice of Monday’s meeting was provided on the town website, with an agenda dated April 25. Temple said the town also sent out robocalls to notify voters, though some residents said they did not receive them.
Opponents said the few hundred people at Monday’s meeting were not representative of viewpoints held by town and area residents.
Noah Gittell, who works with the group Stop Towantic Power, said people are frustrated with the process. “It seemed like confusion was part of the strategy,” he said. “People are so in the dark on this.”
Gittell, who lives three miles away from the plant in Woodbury, said residents of neighboring towns would receive all the plant’s negative effects and none of its tax benefits.
Many Oxford residents say they aren’t happy with the tax deal, either, saying CPV should pay according to the mill rate like any other business.
Temple said the stabilization deal protects the town from the plant’s depreciation. “The problem is it can look like you’re going great for five years, but after that it keeps declining,” he said. “It’s not good for the town.”
The predictability also protects CPV from potential future mill rate increases, he said.
The proposal for the 785-megawatt plant dates to the late 1990s when a smaller facility was approved on the site. CPV revived the plan, with a much larger output, in 2014. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Referendum date set for Plainville school projects
PLAINVILLE — Townspeople will vote Tuesday, June 6, on a $25.2 million elementary school renovate-as-new project, as well as paving improvements at the high school.
The Town Council voted Monday night to send the projects to referendum after a public hearing last month. The all-day referendum will be at the Plainville firehouse.
“I think it’s time for the people to vote on it,” said Town Councilor Deborah Tompkins.
Wheeler Elementary School’s renovate-as-new project is eligible for state reimbursement of 51 percent if approved before June 30. The town would be responsible for $13.1 million.Paving at Plainville High School would cost $1.7 million with no state reimbursement.
The public was recently given a tour of Wheeler and shown the plans. Several people have since voiced support.
“We really need to handle this now,” said Sheri Labowski, a town resident.
She said her children recently started attending Wheeler, after a move from the Toffolon Elementary School area, and was surprised at the conditions.
Wheeler is lacking several features found in other town schools.
A security vestibule, included at the four other schools, will be added at Wheeler as a check-in for visitors. New air conditioning units will be installed and a connector from one end of the building to another will be added. A new entrance, expanded parking, and a new roof will also be included in the renovate-as-new plan.
Town resident John Kisluk said he was not in support of the plan.
“I’m really opposed to this renovate-as-new,” he said. “We’re spending too much on these schools.”
Resident Joanne Edman echoed Kisluk’s concerns.
“I do think we’re spending a lot,” she said.
Town Council Chairwoman Kathy Pugliese said the reimbursement may not be available in the current amount if the projects are not approved before June 30.
If approved, the project would be put out to bid during the winter with the start of construction planned for the summer of 2018.
Congress still needs to pass the $1 trillion budget bill, which will fund the government through the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The measure also requires President Donald Trump's signature. The bill is expected to pass, as leaders from both parties have indicated they received what they wanted out of the deal, and that it is preferable to another continuing resolution.
The government has been operating on a temporary funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, which usually limits spending levels to the previous fiscal year.
The $5 million, which U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., helped secure in an earlier appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security, would represent the first federal appropriation allotted for the museum. The money would be used for initial appraising, cataloguing, and organizing artifacts, and could not be used for the design and construction of the museum.
Murphy, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, worked to change statutory language that prohibited any federal funding from being used on the museum project.
"This first wave of federal support will enable the Coast Guard to put its more than 225 years of history on display in New London soon," Murphy said in a prepared statement. Blumenthal called it a "critical down payment" that "hopefully" will lead to more private contributions.
The Coast Guard Museum Association, which is in charge of raising money for the museum, has secured about $9 million in private donations, and also has a commitment from the state for $20 million to be used to build a pedestrian bridge that would provide safe access to the museum. The association is seeking a total of $30 million from the federal government for the estimated $100 million project and has set a goal of raising $13 million in private donations this year alone.
The museum initially was expected to open in 2018, but the opening has since been pushed back to 2021.
The budget deal, if passed, will mean $12.5 billion more in defense spending. Submarines would continue to fare well. About $5 billion would be spent on the Virginia-class attack submarine program. Another $2 billion would go toward building the new class of 12 ballistic missile submarines, known as the Columbia-class program.
The Virginia-class submarines are built jointly by Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, with each company alternating delivery to the Navy. EB is the prime contractor on the Columbia-class program, and will thus perform a larger share of the work.
Meanwhile, Trump unveiled his first budget request in March. This month, he will submit a more detailed budget proposal for the 2018 fiscal year.
Middletown Council Approves Solar Deal For Water Treatment Plant
Construction will begin soon on a solar array estimated to provide about 75 percent of the power needed to run the drinking water treatment system at the Mount Higby reservoir.
The common council approved an agreement in April with Greenskies Renewable Energy to build the 217-kilowatt solar system with 714 photovoltaic panels. The city will pay Greenskies a fixed rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour over the life of the 20-year contract, providing an estimated savings of $14,000 in electricity costs each year, city and company officials said.
Greenskies said it expects the system to be operational by the end of the summer.
The equipment will be built on city property to provide power to the Charles B. Bacon Water Treatment Plant at the reservoirs near the city line with Meriden.
The city and Greenskies had a previous agreement for the same property in 2014. The council approved the agreement at that time, but the deal was never signed and has been renegotiated since then.
"This project offers a model for the city of Middletown in which we can fix our delivered electricity unit costs at a substantially reduced rate for the next 20 years," Mayor Daniel Drew said in a statement. "We think applying this model across all city and Board of Education buildings is an important and attractive option to pursue."Drew said the city has looked at a number of sites for potential solar options, and the Higby location is the best one so far. Middletown will continue to pursue renewable energy, he said.
"The taxpayer saves money and we treat our environment well," Drew said. "We're a greener city than most. Knowing that we're cleaning our water through renewable energy is really satisfying."
Generating 272,000 kilowatt-hours each year of clean power with the solar panels will forgo significant emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide associated with electricity generation by utilities, said city Energy Coordinator Michael Harris. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
WEST HAVEN >> The city will hold a public information meeting next week on the proposed reconstruction of a section of Beach Street and First Avenue that was 5 feet underwater during Superstorm Sandy, officials said Monday in a news release.
Members of the public are invited to review and discuss the project’s preliminary design plans with officials from the city and its engineering consultant, DTC of Hamden, at 7 p.m. May 11 in the Harriet C. North Community Room on the second floor of City Hall, 355 Main St., the release said.A DTC representative will present an overview of the plans, which are about 60 percent complete, said City Engineer Abdul Quadir.The $8.5 million project calls for the city to raise a 4,000-foot stretch of First Avenue and Beach Street from Monahan Place, near the wastewater treatment plant, to Morse Avenue, near the former Chick’s Drive-in restaurant, Quadir said.
Elevations will range from 2 to 5 feet, based on existing topography, Quadir said in the release.
“The raising of Beach Street will ensure that the road is fully accessible throughout an extreme storm, such as Superstorm Sandy,” said Mayor Ed O’Brien.The coastal resiliency project is part of West Haven’s recovery efforts in the aftermath of Sandy to better protect the Beach Street area from flooding events.On Oct. 29, 2012, during Sandy, the Water Pollution Control Plant at 2 Beach St. was inaccessible to staff and emergency vehicles for nearly 12 hours because of extensive flooding.In the storm’s wake, the city has taken steps to make it more resilient to tidal flooding and coastal storms, including dredging the Old Field Creek salt marsh off Beach Street, thanks to federal funding to help Connecticut municipalities like West Haven make such improvements.The Beach Street project, which kicked off in 2015, is being financed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.The project also will include the construction of new concrete sidewalks and a two-way bike lane for future connection to a regional shoreline bikeway system, said Assistant City Planner David Killeen.
Construction Employment Increases in 224 out of 358 Metro Areas Between March 2016 and 2017 as New Tax Proposal May Boost Future Growth
Construction employment increased in 224 out of 358 metro areas between March 2016 and March 2017, declined in 92 and stagnated in 42, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that a recent proposal by the Trump administration to reform the tax code for businesses, including pass-through entities, should help boost demand for new construction and make it easier for firms to expand payrolls in the future
"Reforming the tax code should help boost demand for construction by freeing up significant amounts of private sector capital to finance new projects," said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. "Moreover, reducing the tax burden on construction employers will make it easier for them to add new staff to keep up with growing demand for their services."
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (12,200 jobs, 14 percent) added the most construction jobs during the past year, followed by Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. (9,400 jobs, 8 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (8,600 jobs, 13 percent); Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash. (6,300 jobs, 11 percent) and Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (6,000 jobs, 5 percent). The largest percentage gains occurred in the Lewiston, Idaho-Wash. metro area (25 percent, 300 jobs); Lake Charles, La. (21 percent, 4,000 jobs); Redding, Calif. (19 percent, 500 jobs); Gary, Ind. (17 percent and 2,400 jobs) and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif. (17 percent, 700 jobs).
Independent Gaming Report: Bridgeport Location Better For Third State Casino
An independent report from Union Gaming that analyzes the global gaming industry asserts “We question whether a casino in East Windsor would actually help CT retain gaming dollars or just cannibalize the existing tribal operations,” adding “When considering the Wynn Boston project will also likely cut into Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, we would expect CT could take a more strategic approach to gambling expansion and open up the process and geography … Considering the proximity to NYC, and the wealth and population centers in and around NYC, we believe there would be notable interest in a potential casino license opportunity in Southern Connecticut.”
As the state legislature examines maximizing revenues to offset financials thick in red ink, debate centers on expansion for a third Connecticut casino. A coalition of the state’s monopoly-driven Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun tribal-gaming entities argue Connecticut must offset MGM Springfield’s presence with a satellite facility. Hold on a minute declares this independent report, the best way to go is a third casino in southern Connecticut to leverage the wealthy Fairfield County and New York markets with an open, competitive process.
State legislators have been contacted by gaming entities such as Caesar’s and Pinnacle to express interest should the General Assembly approve a competitive process.
Currently structured Connecticut’s casino enterprise operates under a monopoly in which the state receives 25 percent of the slot take. Bring a new entity in and the gaming compact is broken. But Attorney General George Jepsen has cautioned the legislature that the East Windsor site, though tribal managed, is on non-tribal property risking the currently guaranteed payments to the state.
So what’s wrong with a competitive process in which everyone participates? CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Norwich City Council skeptical about school renovation proposal
Norwich — For the second time in recent months, an extensive $144 million renovation plan for the city's aging schools is in jeopardy before the public has a chance to weigh in on the project that would transform the school district.
The City Council on Monday came close to defeating a resolution that would authorize a bond ordinance be prepared with the goal of placing the project on the November ballot for a referendum.
Led by Council President Pro Tempore Peter Nystrom, aldermen started to criticize the project that would completely renovate four elementary schools, keep the recently renovated Kelly Middle School and close four other buildings.
Alderman Gerald Martin, who also was prepared to vote against the plan, suggested tabling the issue to hear more information rather than going ahead with what appeared to be a vote to kill the plan. The council voted 5-1, with Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick opposing, to table the issue.
The Board of Education initially rejected the package in January in a 4-4 vote before reconsidering it and approving the plan, 7-2, in early March.
The total project cost was calculated at $144.5 million, with a local share borne by Norwich taxpayers at $57.6 million, if current state reimbursement formulas remain intact.
The plan calls for renovating-as-new four schools, the Thomas Mahan School, John Moriarty, Teachers' Memorial and John B. Stanton schools, for use as elementary schools. The Kelly Middle School would remain for grades seven and eight. Although the consultants hired to design the plan did not specifically address moving central offices, they suggested the Samuel Huntington School could double as a community center and central offices.
The project was proposed as a long-term solution to the current sprawling district's problems with maintaining its many aging buildings.
Nystrom and Alderman William Nash questioned the selection of the four schools to be renovated, noting that most were geographically in the western and northern areas of the city, leaving the East Side, Greeneville and Taftville children with longer bus rides. Nystrom also questioned why the high-performing Huntington School would be turned into offices.
Nash also questioned why Mahan School, which sits on what he called the largest, most commercially viable piece of city property, would be retained as a school rather than sold.
Superintendent Abby Dolliver, a member of the now disbanded School Facilities Review Committee, did not address the council Monday but said she will prepare a fact sheet for the City Council and the public “so that people know the benefits, the obstacles and why this would be important for the community as a long-term project.”
Dolliver said the buildings chosen were based on available expansion space, and Huntington School was not considered because it has no room for expansion.
The entire project came forward as a result of annual budget fights; another budget battle is in the works this year. Norwich closed two elementary schools and converted a third into a preschool center in recent years in last-minute budget cuts. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun employees to lobby lawmakers at Capitol
Southeastern Connecticut casino employees will travel Wednesday to Hartford to lobby lawmakers considering casino-expansion bills, one of which would enable the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to develop a casino in East Windsor.
Claiming "growing momentum" behind their bid for a third Connecticut casino, the tribes announced Tuesday that the tribal chairmen will accompany employees from their respective casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, to the Capitol "to talk with legislators about the importance of saving their jobs."
The tribes say more than 9,000 jobs in the state are imperiled by MGM Springfield, the $950 million resort casino scheduled to open next year in Massachusetts.
"As we enter the last month of (the legislative) session, it's clear there is growing momentum behind our project," Kevin Brown, the Mohegan chairman, said in a news release. "Just last week, the town of East Windsor overwhelmingly reiterated their support for our proposed facility. Now we have only our bill and a competing proposal that will cost the state millions in tax revenue. The choice is clear. And the time to act is now."
Voting at a town meeting Thursday night, East Windsor residents rejected a proposed ordinance that sought to derail the casino project proposed for their town.
The other casino bill before the legislature calls for a competitive-bidding process among casino operators. Such an approach ultimately would negate agreements that require the tribes to share their existing casinos' slot-machine revenues with the state.
Those payments are expected to total $267 million in the current fiscal year, according to the state Office of Policy and Management's latest forecast.
State Attorney General George Jepsen has advised the legislature that Senate Bill 957, the bill granting the tribes the sole right to develop a third Connecticut casino, could jeopardize the state's revenue-sharing agreements with the tribes. The risks, Jepsen wrote in a March letter to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, "while impossible to quantify with precision, are not insubstantial and cannot be mitigated with confidence."
Following Jepsen's opinion, the tribes announced that they will continue making slot-revenue payments to the state if the legislature passes the bill.
"With the development of a third casino operated jointly by Mohegan and Pequot, we are committed to guaranteeing our existing slot revenue arrangement with the state and are proposing compact amendments that will ensure those revenue streams are preserved," Brown and Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket chairman, wrote in a letter to state leaders. "Senate Bill 957 does not jeopardize this revenue sharing because it is expressly conditioned on approval of the tribes' proposed compact amendments."
"We've said from the beginning that we want to help the state we have called home for centuries," Butler said. "With the state's finances taking a turn for the worse, it's now more important than ever that we rally around our employees and fight to save Connecticut jobs."
Members of the public are invited to review and discuss the project’s preliminary design plans with officials from the city and its engineering consultant, DTC of Hamden, at 7 p.m. May 11 in the Harriet C. North Community Room on the second floor of City Hall, 355 Main St., the release said.A DTC representative will present an overview of the plans, which are about 60 percent complete, said City Engineer Abdul Quadir.The $8.5 million project calls for the city to raise a 4,000-foot stretch of First Avenue and Beach Street from Monahan Place, near the wastewater treatment plant, to Morse Avenue, near the former Chick’s Drive-in restaurant, Quadir said.
Elevations will range from 2 to 5 feet, based on existing topography, Quadir said in the release.
“The raising of Beach Street will ensure that the road is fully accessible throughout an extreme storm, such as Superstorm Sandy,” said Mayor Ed O’Brien.The coastal resiliency project is part of West Haven’s recovery efforts in the aftermath of Sandy to better protect the Beach Street area from flooding events.On Oct. 29, 2012, during Sandy, the Water Pollution Control Plant at 2 Beach St. was inaccessible to staff and emergency vehicles for nearly 12 hours because of extensive flooding.In the storm’s wake, the city has taken steps to make it more resilient to tidal flooding and coastal storms, including dredging the Old Field Creek salt marsh off Beach Street, thanks to federal funding to help Connecticut municipalities like West Haven make such improvements.The Beach Street project, which kicked off in 2015, is being financed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.The project also will include the construction of new concrete sidewalks and a two-way bike lane for future connection to a regional shoreline bikeway system, said Assistant City Planner David Killeen.
Construction Employment Increases in 224 out of 358 Metro Areas Between March 2016 and 2017 as New Tax Proposal May Boost Future Growth
Construction employment increased in 224 out of 358 metro areas between March 2016 and March 2017, declined in 92 and stagnated in 42, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that a recent proposal by the Trump administration to reform the tax code for businesses, including pass-through entities, should help boost demand for new construction and make it easier for firms to expand payrolls in the future
"Reforming the tax code should help boost demand for construction by freeing up significant amounts of private sector capital to finance new projects," said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. "Moreover, reducing the tax burden on construction employers will make it easier for them to add new staff to keep up with growing demand for their services."
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (12,200 jobs, 14 percent) added the most construction jobs during the past year, followed by Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. (9,400 jobs, 8 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (8,600 jobs, 13 percent); Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash. (6,300 jobs, 11 percent) and Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (6,000 jobs, 5 percent). The largest percentage gains occurred in the Lewiston, Idaho-Wash. metro area (25 percent, 300 jobs); Lake Charles, La. (21 percent, 4,000 jobs); Redding, Calif. (19 percent, 500 jobs); Gary, Ind. (17 percent and 2,400 jobs) and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif. (17 percent, 700 jobs).
The largest job losses from March 2016 to March 2017 were in Pittsburgh, Pa. (-2,900 jobs, -6 percent), followed by Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass. (-2,300 jobs, -4 percent); Middlesex-Monmouth-Ocean, N.J. (-2,100 jobs, -6 percent) and Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Miss. (-1,800 jobs, -19 percent). The largest percentage decreases for the year were in Danville, Ill. (-20 percent, -100 jobs); Casper, Wyo. (-19 percent, -600 jobs); Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Miss. and Charleston, W.V. (-17 percent, -1,300 jobs).
Association officials said the Trump administration's new proposed tax reform principles that were released last week could help boost demand for construction and employment in the sector. The association has long called for reforms not just to the corporate tax rate, but also to the rate pass-through entities, including the majority of construction firms, pay. The Trump administration's proposal to cut the rate all businesses pay will help free up private-sector capital for new construction projects, and provide firms with additional resources they need to expand payrolls, the officials added. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUEIndependent Gaming Report: Bridgeport Location Better For Third State Casino
An independent report from Union Gaming that analyzes the global gaming industry asserts “We question whether a casino in East Windsor would actually help CT retain gaming dollars or just cannibalize the existing tribal operations,” adding “When considering the Wynn Boston project will also likely cut into Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, we would expect CT could take a more strategic approach to gambling expansion and open up the process and geography … Considering the proximity to NYC, and the wealth and population centers in and around NYC, we believe there would be notable interest in a potential casino license opportunity in Southern Connecticut.”
As the state legislature examines maximizing revenues to offset financials thick in red ink, debate centers on expansion for a third Connecticut casino. A coalition of the state’s monopoly-driven Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun tribal-gaming entities argue Connecticut must offset MGM Springfield’s presence with a satellite facility. Hold on a minute declares this independent report, the best way to go is a third casino in southern Connecticut to leverage the wealthy Fairfield County and New York markets with an open, competitive process.
State legislators have been contacted by gaming entities such as Caesar’s and Pinnacle to express interest should the General Assembly approve a competitive process.
Currently structured Connecticut’s casino enterprise operates under a monopoly in which the state receives 25 percent of the slot take. Bring a new entity in and the gaming compact is broken. But Attorney General George Jepsen has cautioned the legislature that the East Windsor site, though tribal managed, is on non-tribal property risking the currently guaranteed payments to the state.
So what’s wrong with a competitive process in which everyone participates? CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Norwich City Council skeptical about school renovation proposal
Norwich — For the second time in recent months, an extensive $144 million renovation plan for the city's aging schools is in jeopardy before the public has a chance to weigh in on the project that would transform the school district.
The City Council on Monday came close to defeating a resolution that would authorize a bond ordinance be prepared with the goal of placing the project on the November ballot for a referendum.
Led by Council President Pro Tempore Peter Nystrom, aldermen started to criticize the project that would completely renovate four elementary schools, keep the recently renovated Kelly Middle School and close four other buildings.
Alderman Gerald Martin, who also was prepared to vote against the plan, suggested tabling the issue to hear more information rather than going ahead with what appeared to be a vote to kill the plan. The council voted 5-1, with Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick opposing, to table the issue.
The Board of Education initially rejected the package in January in a 4-4 vote before reconsidering it and approving the plan, 7-2, in early March.
The total project cost was calculated at $144.5 million, with a local share borne by Norwich taxpayers at $57.6 million, if current state reimbursement formulas remain intact.
The plan calls for renovating-as-new four schools, the Thomas Mahan School, John Moriarty, Teachers' Memorial and John B. Stanton schools, for use as elementary schools. The Kelly Middle School would remain for grades seven and eight. Although the consultants hired to design the plan did not specifically address moving central offices, they suggested the Samuel Huntington School could double as a community center and central offices.
The project was proposed as a long-term solution to the current sprawling district's problems with maintaining its many aging buildings.
Nystrom and Alderman William Nash questioned the selection of the four schools to be renovated, noting that most were geographically in the western and northern areas of the city, leaving the East Side, Greeneville and Taftville children with longer bus rides. Nystrom also questioned why the high-performing Huntington School would be turned into offices.
Nash also questioned why Mahan School, which sits on what he called the largest, most commercially viable piece of city property, would be retained as a school rather than sold.
Superintendent Abby Dolliver, a member of the now disbanded School Facilities Review Committee, did not address the council Monday but said she will prepare a fact sheet for the City Council and the public “so that people know the benefits, the obstacles and why this would be important for the community as a long-term project.”
Dolliver said the buildings chosen were based on available expansion space, and Huntington School was not considered because it has no room for expansion.
The entire project came forward as a result of annual budget fights; another budget battle is in the works this year. Norwich closed two elementary schools and converted a third into a preschool center in recent years in last-minute budget cuts. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun employees to lobby lawmakers at Capitol
Southeastern Connecticut casino employees will travel Wednesday to Hartford to lobby lawmakers considering casino-expansion bills, one of which would enable the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to develop a casino in East Windsor.
Claiming "growing momentum" behind their bid for a third Connecticut casino, the tribes announced Tuesday that the tribal chairmen will accompany employees from their respective casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, to the Capitol "to talk with legislators about the importance of saving their jobs."
The tribes say more than 9,000 jobs in the state are imperiled by MGM Springfield, the $950 million resort casino scheduled to open next year in Massachusetts.
"As we enter the last month of (the legislative) session, it's clear there is growing momentum behind our project," Kevin Brown, the Mohegan chairman, said in a news release. "Just last week, the town of East Windsor overwhelmingly reiterated their support for our proposed facility. Now we have only our bill and a competing proposal that will cost the state millions in tax revenue. The choice is clear. And the time to act is now."
Voting at a town meeting Thursday night, East Windsor residents rejected a proposed ordinance that sought to derail the casino project proposed for their town.
The other casino bill before the legislature calls for a competitive-bidding process among casino operators. Such an approach ultimately would negate agreements that require the tribes to share their existing casinos' slot-machine revenues with the state.
Those payments are expected to total $267 million in the current fiscal year, according to the state Office of Policy and Management's latest forecast.
State Attorney General George Jepsen has advised the legislature that Senate Bill 957, the bill granting the tribes the sole right to develop a third Connecticut casino, could jeopardize the state's revenue-sharing agreements with the tribes. The risks, Jepsen wrote in a March letter to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, "while impossible to quantify with precision, are not insubstantial and cannot be mitigated with confidence."
Following Jepsen's opinion, the tribes announced that they will continue making slot-revenue payments to the state if the legislature passes the bill.
"With the development of a third casino operated jointly by Mohegan and Pequot, we are committed to guaranteeing our existing slot revenue arrangement with the state and are proposing compact amendments that will ensure those revenue streams are preserved," Brown and Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket chairman, wrote in a letter to state leaders. "Senate Bill 957 does not jeopardize this revenue sharing because it is expressly conditioned on approval of the tribes' proposed compact amendments."
"We've said from the beginning that we want to help the state we have called home for centuries," Butler said. "With the state's finances taking a turn for the worse, it's now more important than ever that we rally around our employees and fight to save Connecticut jobs."