Owner John Tornatore’s Gordon Bonetti Florist is one casualty of Hartford’s unique property tax system, which leans more heavily on businesses than homeowners. Tornatore pulled up stakes for neighboring Wethersfield, where he says he’s enjoying much lower tax bills. For years, John Tornatore chafed at the high personal and real estate property taxes the city […]
Cities Project
Posted inCities & Towns, News
Meet the architect of Hartford’s bifurcated tax system
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.
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 inNews
Former Bridgeport factory goes from blighted to revitalized
Investments in the neighborhood will total nearly $1 billion by the time construction ends in six or seven years.
Posted inNews
Building better cities, one cleanup at a time
Once engines of Connecticut’s prosperity, the state’s former factories have long been massive liabilities for struggling cities. Connecticut has found a path to get these sites back into use, and it’s fueled with taxpayer money.
Posted inNews
Cities left to deal with the shells of industry
One key to a better future for Connecticut’s cities could lie beneath the ugly scars from its industrial past, but the state the state doesn’t track number of jobs created or taxes generated after cleanup or even keep an inventory of its brownfield sites.
Posted inEconomic Development
A Time For Cities
For the next several months a remarkable partnership of media organizations will take a close look at Connecticut cities. We call it The Cities Project.