As a result of a pending reval in 1978, some Hartford homeowners faced tax hikes of 80 percent or more. City officials needed a solution – fast.
Cities & Towns
Connecticut has 169 cities and towns. Keep up with their neighborhoods, their municipal governments and regionalization efforts here.
Posted inCities & Towns, News
Newburgh, N.Y., may have a solution for blighted properties Connecticut can use
Newburgh, N.Y. has a strong cadre of people working on revitalization — and a land bank that has proved a key tool in that effort. It’s a tool Connecticut cities are seeking to adopt as well.
Posted inCities & Towns, News
City Revival — Did We Learn From the Urban Renewal Era?
Many Connecticut cities are seeing a 21st century renewal. Are they getting it right — or at least better — this time?
Posted inNews
Connecticut faces long crawl out of wealth extremes, crushing debt
Leaders have many ideas to reduce wealth inequality and promote prosperity. But they remain uncertain about how to solve this crisis while Connecticut simultaneously grapples with a historic debt burden that also threatens its future. Sixth in a series.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut’s vanishing shoreline: Towns trying to beat the odds
Shoreline resiliency against sea level rise and flooding in Connecticut is largely in the hands of local governments. But with money tight and local budgets reliant on the taxes shoreline properties generate, efforts to protect coastal communities from climate change have been slow and underfunded. Some communities, however, are making more progress than others.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut’s vanishing shoreline: One storm away from disaster
Connecticut is fortunate it hasn’t been hit by a tropical-style storm since the successive storms of Irene and Sandy in 2011 and 2012 swamped the coastline, illuminating its vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change. That’s because there’s a general consensus that if either of those storms were to hit now, they would be just as damaging.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy defends investment record at penultimate Bond Commission meeting
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, keenly aware of the unwelcome role his record is playing in the campaign to succeed him, spent one of his final State Bond Commission meetings Thursday defending state borrowing made during his tenure to promote economic development statewide and help Connecticut’s struggling capital city.
Posted inMoney
Among Connecticut cities and towns, the wealthiest are the big spenders
While Connecticut’s distressed cities often are perceived as having bloated budgets, the wealthy suburbs easily outspend their urban neighbors on a per capita basis, sometimes by margins nearing two-to-one. Second in a series.
Posted inMoney
Already deep in debt, Connecticut struggles with extremes of wealth and income
The growing gap between Connecticut’s richest and poorest citizens, which already outstrips that in most other states, has widened dramatically since the last recession. First in a series.
Posted inMoney
Legislature overwhelmingly enacts bipartisan CT budget
The legislature overwhelmingly approved a new state budget shortly before their midnight deadline Wednesday that restores aid for towns; reverses health care cuts for the elderly, poor and disabled; and defers a transportation crisis — at least for another year.
Posted inMoney
Competing CT budget plans rely on April tax bonanza
Democratic and Republican legislators offered competing visions for the next state budget Friday, but both effectively dipped into this spring’s unexpectedly high income-tax revenues to salvage key programs for towns and social services, drawing a sharp rebuke from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inMoney
S&P lowers CT’s bond rating citing hefty debt
The potential for Connecticut’s hefty debt burden to remain a drain on state finances for years to come prompted one major Wall Street rating agency Friday to downgrade the state’s credit rating.
Posted inMoney
Wall Street firm applauds CT debt aid to Hartford
A major Wall Street credit-rating agency, Moody’s Financial Services, has upgraded Hartford’s bond rating in response to a new state plan to retire the capital city’s bonded debt.
Posted inMoney
Fiscal panel’s formula for revitalizing CT provokes Democratic resistance
Progressive Democrats in the General Assembly pushed back Friday against the state’s new fiscal stability panel, charging its recommendations shortchange key priorities, like poor cities, education and social services.
Posted inMoney
FOI complaint seeks documents delving into fiscal stability panel’s work
Two progressive policy groups have charged the state’s fiscal stability commission with failing to disclose documents — including those tied to a nonprofit that funded key budgetary consultants for the panel. They are asking the legislature to put off acting on the panel’s recommendations until their request for the documents is resolved.