A bill that would create an economic development zone around Bradley International Airport has passed the Legislature and is headed for Gov. Jodi Rell’s desk.
The zone would provide tax credits to manufacturers and information technology businesses that move to or expand in the zone, which includes parts of Windsor Locks, where the airport is located, as well as areas of Windsor, Suffield, and East Granby. Other businesses could be eligible for the tax credits if their business is tied to the airport in some way.
Retail stores are among the businesses that wouldn’t be offered tax credits.
Businesses would get the credits starting in 2014. The roughly $200,000 for tax credits in the first year of the program would come from money that’s left over every year in a fund for enterprise zones in “distressed municipalities.”
But proponents of the bill, including Sens. Gary D. LeBeau, D-East Hartford, and John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, have said the development the zone would encourage would more than make up for that cost through additional jobs and tax revenue.
Rep. Peggy Sayers, D-Windsor Locks, praised the bill, saying “Bradley International Airport has the potential to be an economic engine for the area,” bringing in good jobs.
The bill now heads to Rell, who had proposed turning Bradley into a quasi-public entity to market it better and bring the state more revenue.
