New jobs bill focuses on small business, green technologies, training, investment incentives

One feature of Connecticut's new jobs bill provides 25 percent personal income tax credits for up to $100,000 in “angel investments” in bioscience, photonics, information technology and green technology businesses. Image of roadside charger for electric cars courtesy of GreenOptions.com

Gov. M. Jodi Rell today [May 12] announced passage of sweeping, bipartisan jobs legislation that offers incentives for employers, supports small business and emerging industries, provides resources for tuition and training, helps manufacturers find efficiencies and includes accountability measures to safeguard state taxpayer dollars.

House Bill 5435, An Act Concerning the Recommendations of the Majority Leaders Job Growth Roundtable, passed 140-4 in the House and unanimously in the Senate.

“This may very well be the most important bill – other than the budget – we passed all year,” Gov. Rell said.

“All of us agreed there were really only two priorities this year – the budget and jobs. We passed a budget, on time, for the first time in four years. And today we celebrate the centerpiece of a number of jobs bills that address Issue No. 1 for the people of our state: keeping and growing jobs.

“The less we worried about who got the credit – and the more we focused on what made it into the bill – the more we were likely to accomplish. This legislation has elements I offered in my budget speech, elements from the Majority Leaders’ Roundtable and elements proposed by legislative Republicans. More importantly, the people of our state will benefit in ways large and small – which is exactly how it should be.”

Highlights of the bill:

• Provides up to $500,000 in loans and lines of credit for small businesses and nonprofits

• Sales tax exemption for machinery, supplies and fuel used in renewable energy industries

• Tax credits and a cap of $200 on insurance premiums for small businesses that create new jobs and/or hire workers with disabilities

• Loan reimbursement and training grants for education and careers in green technology, life sciences and health information technology

• Establishes a Community-Technical College advisory board to assess training needs of unemployed residents

• Authorizes up to $150,000 in pre-seed financing and technical services to businesses developing innovative concepts

• Provides 25 percent personal income tax credits for up to $100,000 in “angel investments“  in bioscience, photonics, information technology and green technology businesses

• Authorizes $1.3 million in bonds for mortgage-crisis job training

• Establishes waste-reduction task force to study reducing or eliminating duplicative procedures

• Expands Dept. of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Commissioner’s duties in technical assistance for exporting, manufacturing and cluster-based initiatives

• Establishes DECD pilot program helping Connecticut-based small manufacturers implement green technologies and become more efficient

• Evaluates resources needed to include job-impact analyses in fiscal notes and report those findings to the Office of Legislative Management by Dec. 1, 2010

Posted May 12, 2010

Related links:

Definition of “angel investor” from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_investor

Definition of  “cluster-based initiatives,” http://www.isc.hbs.edu/econ-clusters.htm

Green Options Web site, http://www.greenoptions.com

Only 227 voters show up for Mansfield budget vote

Whether it was apathy or some premonition that Tuesday’s vote might not stick – only 227 Mansfield voters showed up at the annual Town Meeting to cast their vote on the $33.7 million town/education budget for 2010-2011.

The vote was taken by paper ballot in the auditorium of the Mansfield Middle School. The budget passed with 188 in favor and 39 opposed.

With 10,939 registered voters in town, turnout at the Town Meeting was 2.18 percent.

The Regional School District 19 vote on May 4 on the budget for E.O. Smith High School also had a poor turnout, although it topped this week’s total – 488 votes were cast in Mansfield. (District 19 comprises three towns. In Ashford there were 372 votes and in Willington there were 141). That budget also passed.

However, the town/education  budget can still be petitioned to a referendum, as has happened in previous years. Residents have 21 days after a budget passes to submit a petition with signatures from at least 2 percent of the registered voters in town, which would be slightly less than the same number as those who turned up at the Town Meeting.

As it stands now, the 2010-2011 budget is a 0.8 percent increase over the current budget.

Despite this modest increase, the budget didn’t have wholehearted support from the Town Council.

Republican Town Council members Meredith Lindsey, Christopher Paulhus and Denise Keane have spoken against the budget.

Lindsey told voters Tuesday night that she, Paulhus and Keane believe the Town Council should have cut the budget further in light of the troubled economy and diminishing state aid. “This is not the time to increase the tax burden on our residents,” she said.

Under the new budget, the town’s current mill rate of 25.71 will remain the same next year.

The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 would pay $5,142 in taxes. However, some residents may pay more taxes next year because of the recent revaluation of property, which may have increased the value of some homes.

Before the paper-ballot vote, there was one attempt to reduce the bottom line.

Roger Roberge Jr. recommended reducing the board of education budget by $200,000. Initially, his motion was to cut three of the four positions being reinstated at Mansfield Middle School but under Mansfield’s charter, voters can only move to reduce (or increase) the bottom line.

His motion failed when no one would second it.

As approved Tuesday, the general government budget for fiscal year 2010-11 is $13,113,895 (a 2.1-percent increase) and the Mansfield board of education budget is $20,588,160 (a $7,410 decrease).

Additionally, Mansfield’s budget includes the town’s $9,924,230 portion of the Regional School District 19 budget and that figure is $587 less than the current year.

Voters also approved a $20.06 million capital projects fund.

This includes nearly $17.6 million in state and federal funds for the proposed Storrs Center project, according to town officials.

The remaining money for the capital fund, totaling $365,045, would come from bonds, other state grants and town-contributed money.

According to town officials, the capital fund pays for community development, public works, facilities management, general government, community services and public safety.

The capital and nonrecurring fund – which covers one-time purchases or expenditures – is $967,545.

Posted May 12, 2010 as edited and added to by HTNP.com Editor Brenda Sullivan