State legislators once again are trying to create a zone around Bradley International Airport in which new or expanding businesses would get special tax incentives.
The Senate last year approved a bill that would have created the Bradley Development Zone, but the House never voted on it.
While lawmakers gave general support for the idea of the zone, the part of the measure that called for removing Department of Transportation oversight from aspects of the airport’s management was more controversial.
The two parts of that bill were divided into separate bills this year.
Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, said he hopes the separation will allow the development zone proposal to move forward even if the opposition to the management changes continues.
The zone would cover parts of Windsor Locks, where the airport is located, as well as areas of Windsor, Suffield, and East Granby.
There are a few ways businesses that move there or expand operations there could receive tax incentives under the proposal.
Their property tax assessments could be fixed for a period of two to seven years, depending on how much they spend on improvements to their properties.
The state would reimburse the towns 40 percent of the lost tax revenue.
If they add at least 25 jobs at their locations in the Bradley zone, the businesses could see their state corporation tax cut by 30 percent, or 50 percent if they add at least 150 jobs. But the businesses couldn’t just move jobs from elsewhere in Connecticut to get the tax credits.
There also would be a sales tax exemption for the replacement parts business owners buy for their machinery.
Commerce Committee co-Chairman Sen. Gary D. LeBeau, D-East Hartford, said the goal is “to make Bradley International an economic driver for the state, particularly for north-central Connecticut.”
Enterprise zones exist elsewhere in the state, but the Bradley zone would be unique because it would be the first time the legislature created a zone that “helped four towns at once with development around a particular entity,” LeBeau said.
The tax benefits for businesses in the zone would begin in 2012, delaying the cost to the state and giving the businesses time to plan expansions, Kissel said.
“This is a bipartisan effort, and we’re very hopeful” that the development zone will be approved this year, the Enfield lawmaker said.
The separate bill changing the Department of Transportation’s involvement in the airport’s management would give Bradley’s board of directors more autonomy over areas such as budgeting, marketing, and contract approvals.
LeBeau said these changes would stop major decisions at the airport from getting caught in a “bureaucratic morass” with the Department of Transportation.
The second bill would allow the governor to appoint two additional private-sector representatives to the airport’s board of directors. That would create a nine-person board, with five members from the private sector.
