nothin Grand List Grows By Millions | New Haven Independent

Grand List Grows By Millions

Melissa Bailey Photos

“Big bangs & bump-ups”: Tax-base boosters Winstanley & Bolduc.

A big roller on Winchester Avenue and a Haven Street small businessman helped the grand list grow a state-topping 3 percent, cutting next year’s budget gap to $42 million.

Mayor John DeStefano shared that news at an 11 a.m. press conference Thursday in City Hall. The announcement represented a rare burst of bright news heading into an otherwise gloomy fiscal year.

New Haven’s 2010 Grand List, which was certified last Friday, showed an increase in $149 million, or 2.97 percent, in net assessed value compared to the prior year. The grand list shows the value of all taxable property in New Haven, including land, personal property and automobiles.

That means for the second year in a row, New Haven showed the largest growth in grand list across the state, according to DeStefano.

The more a grand list grows, the less a city has to tax each property owner to raise the same amount of money.

If the tax rate remains constant at 43.9 mills ($43.90 per $1,000 of assessed value of taxable property), the grand list growth will send $6.3 million extra to the city’s general fund, DeStefano said. That’s real growth,” without factoring the next year of the property revaluation phase-in, he said.

The extra burst of revenue helps cut next year’s budget gap from $57 million to $42 million, DeStefano said. Other factors that helped close that gap, according to the mayor: the recent pension valuation, announced Monday, showed the city has to pay $9 million extra to its pension funds, where it had expected to pay $15 million; the new school administrators contract will save $2.5 million in medical costs, and lower-than-anticipated medical expenditures.

Winstanley Enterprises emerged as the city’s top taxpayer, with $142.7 million in total assessed value of land and personal property. The company is run by Carter Winstanley (at left in photo at the top of this story), who has been taking on a series of major developments across town.

Winstanley turned 300 George St. into a biotech incubator that in the 2009 list had already become one of the top tax-generators in town. He built and opened a 1,200-car garage in place of a factory building on Winchester. He bought and improved 25 Science Park, which is now entirely filled up. He renovated the more modern factory building at 344 Winchester.

Winstanley already owned 1.2 million square feet in the city before taking on two major projects: building 400,000 square feet of office, laboratory and retail space as part of the Downtown Crossing project, and building a new home for Higher One at Science Park’s Tract A at Winchester and Munson.

His company typifies one category of business that’s driving the grand list growth, said DeStefano: real estate developers that specialize in renting office space to life sciences or knowledge-based companies.

Major new construction that added to the grand list included the completion of projects at 55 Park St. (owned by a Fusco Corporation-related entity) and 2 Howe St. (Intercontinental Fund), interior renovations at 300 George St., condos at Harbor Close, the A‑1 Toyota at 50 Amity Rd., and the renovation of the New Haven Hotel at 229 George St.

Fusco Park Street LLC, owner of the lab space at 55 Park St., added $43.8 million in taxable property, the largest growth across the city.

Yale University also grew in taxable property, from $97.6 million to $112.9 million. However, with all the other development around town, Yale dropped from the number-one taxpayer to number five. Here’s the list of the top 10 and their total assessed real and personal property values:

WINSTANLEY $142,665,390
FUSCO $135,835,390
UNITED ILLUMINATING CO $131,545,452
MEPT CHAPEL STREET LLC $130,051,320
YALE UNIVERSITY $112,894,561
CHASE FAMILY LP #9 ET ALS $56,502,740
INTERCONTINENTAL FUND IV $45,522,890
SNET $34,918,870
PSEG POWER CONNECTICUT LLC $32,040,050
10 METROPOLITAN DEVELOPMENT $31,814,300

Economic development chief Kelly Murphy said the growth in the life-sciences tells only part of the story.

There were the big bangs,” she said, but also lots of small bump-ups.”

The bump-ups came from little shops like one at 138 Haven St. along the Mill River, where Rob Bolduc (at right in photo at the top of this story) runs Boldwood Interiors. Bolduc last year bought the building he’d been renting; meanwhile, a tax abatement on the property ran out. So he’s now paying $20,000 in property tax for the building.

The city celebrated other small victories last year, such as when Gelato Giuliana relocated its factory from Wallingford to the Long Wharf food terminal, Murphy pointed out.

The growth helped counter some losses, including the demolition of the HB Ives and Simkins plants, which removed $2 million and $1.4 million from the grand list respectively. Church on the Rock taking ownership of its building took away $750,000 from the grand list. All the other losses were under $400,000, said DeStefano.

UI Chief: New Haven Is Very Business-Friendly”

In the big bang” category, United Illuminating (UI) jumped from $89.2 million to $131.5 million in assessed value of real and personal property, making it the third top taxpayer in the city. Those numbers don’t include property owned by Southern Connecticut Gas, which UI took over.

In a departure from a previously contentious relationship, UI CEO Jim Torgerson appeared alongside DeStefano (pictured, left to right) and shared in the good news.

UI’s tax bill grew because of substations it’s developing on Grand Avenue and Broadway.

New Haven has now shown itself to be very business-friendly,” Torgerson said. The city wants business here, and businesses are responding. And you can see by this that they’re doing a pretty good job of it right now.” He gave the mayor credit for making sure this happens.”

His comments marked a sharp departure in tone and substance from a conversation he had with the mayor on May 8, 2009, shortly after UI announced it would be relocating its headquarters from downtown New Haven to a suburban office park in Orange.

In a sidewalk showdown near City Hall, DeStefano publicly blasted Torgerson for abandoning New Haven. Torgerson countered that New Haven has insufficient parking options and poorly timed stoplights. Click on the play arrow to watch their exchange.

UI is still planning to leave its downtown New Haven corporate offices when the lease expires in 2012, and centralize its offices in a new corporate office space in Orange.

Asked about the departure in light of his praise for New Haven Thursday, Torgerson offered a new line of response.

We’re actually staying here,” Torgerson said: While UI is moving, its parent company, UIL Holdings, will keep its headquarters in New Haven. That means Torgerson, who’s the president of UIL Holdings, will remain at his office right next to City Hall, as will 125 to 130 corporate staff including communications, human resources, finance, accounting and upper management. That represents about a 220-person reduction in the workforce that’s based in New Haven. Torgerson said the company will stay in the Chase building, and is still renegotiating the terms of the extended lease.

I’m not going anywhere,” Torgerson said.

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