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City Sends Wish List
to Hartford
Seeks more money for tax relief, education,
economic development
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Business New Haven
2/8/1999
By: Michael C. Bingham
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The city of New Haven unveiled its 1999 legislative January 25. In a City Hall press conference, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. focused on property tax relief, economic development, education, neighborhood improvement and what he called “empowering individuals.”
Key development projects city officials hope to attract major funding for include the creation of a visual arts district athwart downtown's Ninth Square neighborhood, loan guarantees and tax incentives for biotechnology companies and more money to inventory remediated brownfields sites in hopes of attracting new industries to them.
DeStefano likewise announced support for a statewide “Smartgrowth” initiative that would encourage development in areas where supporting infrastructure already exists - such as New Haven - place limitations on sprawl and preserve open space and agricultural land.
New Haven officials seek to increase the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) reimbursement for tax-exempt properties owned by colleges, hospitals and state government. They also hope to fund the PILOT for subsidized housing that was established by the state legislature last year.
“The PILOT program has been the key to the city's efforts to produce fiscally responsible budgets and cut property taxes for city residents,” DeStefano said. “The additional money we've received from PILOT over the last few years has gone directly to tax relief.”
He added, “We need to continue to increase the PILOT program as a matter of fairness to cities that house tax-exempt institutions and state services.”
Reflecting his vision for downtown New Haven as a center of cultural activity and vitality, DeStefano seeks legislation to provide funding assistance for development projects designed to rehabilitate historic commercial properties into, for example, mixed-use housing and exhibition space for visual artists. Similar projects in Providence, R.I. and Hartford have gotten off the ground in recent years.
In public education, the city seeks to increase the state's share of local public expenditures on education as well as increase state funding for school construction. New Haven officials hope to add additional schools to the list of schools eligible for funding assistance, including the Jackie Robinson Middle School.
- M.C.B.
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