Mayor doesn’t rule out tax hike
Stewart lauds ‘energy’ and downtown redevelopment
In her annual State of the City address, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart praised progress in the school system and with downtown redevelopment — but pointedly made no promise of taxes dropping or holding steady next year.
Stewart on Wednesday night delivered her 10th annual report on how New Britain is doing, and for the most part offered an upbeat assessment highlighting new businesses opening in the city.
“Together we are leading New Britain into the 21st century and making it a model of success for other municipalities to follow. We are energized, we are strong, and we are growing,” she told the city council.
Stewart cited the impending reconstruction of the 188-unit Mount Pleasant housing project, the planned reconstruction of Holmes School and the $10.5 million overhaul of Osgood Park as examples of municipal initiatives that will help transform the city.
But the biggest measure of success is the inflow of private dollars for residential development, she said.
“In downtown New Britain alone, we expect to add an estimated 400 new residential units, of varying income levels, over the next three to five years with flagship projects like The Brit, The Strand, The Highrailer, and the renovation of 102 West Main St. and the list goes on,” Stewart said.
Almost all of the new downtown apartment complexes under construction are market-rate units. A small group of residents has raised warnings, though, that low-income people will be at risk of being priced out of New Britain if the trend continues, even though it is one of the state’s poorest cities.
Stewart said the solution is initiatives like the Mount Pleasant redevelopment and Winndevelopment Co,’s conversion of a 200,000-square former mill at 321 Ellis St. into 154 mixed-income apartments.
“Improvements in housing stock and housing quality directly tie to improving the quality of life,” she said.
In the past two years, three separate developers — Daniel Czyzewski, Avner Krohn and Amit Lakhotia — have put forward major apartment projects that are reshaping downtown. Stewart noted that all of them required tax breaks, and said the city council needs to continue to provide incentives to keep that kind of development happening.
“It’s up to us to keep that energy high, to keep that energy going, to keep that energy booming,” she said.
Earlier Wednesday, Stewart told the Courant that in any phased-in tax incentive deal, she has insisted the city receive at least as much revenue as it would have gotten without the new development. Even with 10- or 12-year phase-ins where
first-year tax revenue is negligible, New Britain has never lost any money, she noted.
“These projects don’t magically happen, you have to make them happen. We’ve had partnerships and cooperation that goes across party lines,” she said.
Stewart said New Britain’s economy is advancing well out of the COVID-19 downturn, noting that unemployment in the city was just 3.9% in January compared to 15.9% in June of 2020.
In a sharp turnaround from two years ago, Stewart offered praise for the local school system. She slammed administrators in her 2021 State of the City speech, blaming them for students’ chronic low performance on standardized tests. Democrats charged that she was playing politics with education, scapegoating Superintendent Nancy Sarra and refusing to take responsibility for flat-funding the schools’ operating budget year after year.
Sarra retired this summer and was replaced by Tony Gasper, and Stewart told the council Wednesday that she’s pleased with the changes he’s brought.
“Dr. Gasper has developed a more thorough budgeting process, increased communication with our families and our community, he has prioritized student performance, and has elevated the ‘back to basics’ message that has been missing from the school district for so long,” she said.
Unlike in previous years when her State of the City speech strongly signaled no budget increase for the schools in the new year, Stewart gave no hint Wednesday of how she will handle education in her budget proposal next month.
Stewart promised a reduction in the tax rate, but did not say if that would be enough to offset revaluation, which is driving many residential property values up by 60% and more. Stewart gave no assurances about whether property owners will end up paying the same, more, or less in 202324. Last year Stewart’s budget carried no increase in taxes, and the year before that taxes dropped by 2%.
She acknowledged, though, that revaluation happened when residential values had soared.
“None of us are thrilled, no one wants to pay more money,” she said. “The process occurred during a time of time of high inflation, high demand, low inventory, and unfavorable interest rates.
“And while the City can’t step in and stop the nationwide market trends and economic conditions that led to an increase in values, we can address the mill rate to minimize the financial impact on our taxpayers,” she said.