Regional business chamber MetroHartford Alliance said its members support the city’s push to build a baseball stadium and mixed-use development in Downtown North, but the organization said it is concerned about Hartford’s financial position and future.
The alliance, which represents more than 1,000 business, municipalities and organizations, wants city councilors to include in their resolutions for the development a commitment to growing the city’s grand list and shrinking its “astronomical and deleterious” $74.29 mill rate.
Over the past 40 years, a shrinking tax base and rising taxes — particularly on businesses —has led to reductions in city services and a need for public subsidies for most major development, making them virtually exempt from property taxes, alliance CEO Oz Griebel wrote Wednesday in a letter to city councilors.
“That result further shrinks the base of taxpaying properties and exacerbates the burden borne by those with no such abatement or exemption,” Griebel wrote.
The alliance said the city has seen some positive momentum in recent years and wants to see it continue.
“We support the proposal on the assumption that it will sustain the development momentum of the past 15 years while moving from primary dependence on publicly funded initiatives to those driven by private sector development,” the letter said.
But the group said more information is warranted: It wants the city to provide pro forma projections the Downtown North project would have on the city’s grand list and mill rate through fiscal year 2020.
It said the city also needs to provide taxpayers with a clearer picture of all direct and indirect costs the city could bear related to the development; specifics on land transfers; and full details on abatements and subsidies.
The city released basic financial projections this week showing that the development could actually run a $22.8 million surplus for the city between 2015 and 2046. That assumes the team takes an optional extension in the final five years of that period. The development would run an average deficit of approximately $158,000 during the 25 years the city is making annual lease payments of $4.3 million to the developer.
MetroHartford Alliance also recommended that the city hire a professional advisor to help negotiate terms with the developer, DoNo Hartford LLC; integrate the development with the initiatives of the Capital Regional Development Authority, including the XL Center, UConn’s downtown campus, and downtown housing development; and urge the Rock Cats and Mayor Pedro Segarra to speed thepush for private sector sponsorships and support.
