Property tax credit partially reinstated
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy partially reinstated a property tax credit in his budget for Connecticut, now proposing to allow property owners to take a $300 credit, down from the $500 currently allowed.
Malloy said he acted after getting feedback from residents and businesses on a tour of 17 town-hall meetings in his first 100 days in office, even as he continues to hammer out a budget with the Legislature.
“At various points along the way, people wrote that maybe I wasn”™t listening ”“ that maybe I was just on a venting tour ”“ and that in the end I wouldn”™t change anything in my budget proposal,” Malloy said, in a prepared statement. “With all due respect, the people who said that weren”™t listening to what I was saying. All along, I”™ve been saying the same thing: This budget is based on a set of principles from which I will not back down. But I also said that within the framework of those principles I”™ve been trying to find the right balance and that I was open to listening to people”™s ideas.”
GE suffers hack attack
General Electric Co. says it was the victim of a hoax, after a number of media outlets ran with a press release that reportedly appeared on GE”™s website stating it planned to donate $3.2 billion to the U.S. Treasury as remuneration for various tax breaks and shelters it uses. The incident comes in the wake of a New York Times report in March that GE received a net tax benefit in that amount for 2010; ironically the hackers struck even as Fairfield-based GE revealed it would create an information security datacenter in Virginia employing 200 people.
Manufacturing at best level in a year
A Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey of regional manufacturers suggests business is picking up for local plants ”“ the Empire State Manufacturing Survey rose a fifth straight month in April to reach its highest level in a year.
The survey, which reflects conditions in southern Connecticut as well, also revealed “great” optimism in the Fed”™s words about the six-month outlook, which is spilling over into hiring and equipment purchases.
Manufacturers said they were most concerned with the cost of employee benefits, followed by regulation, taxes and finding qualified workers.
Least problematic were depressed real estate prices and credit availability and terms; and about four in five respondents said the crisis in Japan was having little or no effect on their business.
Harman International mourns founder”™s death
Harman International Industries Inc. mourned the passing of its founder Sidney Harman, who also bought Newsweek magazine last year.
In 1953, Harman founded the sound-system giant that bears his name; in 2008, Harman International relocated its headquarters to Stamford from Washington, D.C., where Sidney Harman died April 12 of complications from cancer at the age of 92.
“His legacy of leading-edge innovation and premium quality will continue to live on at Harman,” said CEO Dinesh Paliwal, in a written statement. “I am grateful to Dr. Harman for the trust he placed in the company”™s management to carry on his legacy.”
Last co-founder of Golf Digest dies
John F. Barnett, who got Wilton-based Golf Digest off the ground 60 years ago with two childhood friends, died April 10 in Houston of complications from a New Year”™s Day stroke. He was 89.
Jack Barnett, William Davis and Howard Gill were classmates growing up in Winnetka, Ill., and subsequently at Northwestern University.
Davis is credited with starting the magazine in 1950, bringing in Barnett and Gill the following year, with Barnett eventually assuming the role of editor. The New York Times bought Golf Digest in May 1969, then sold it to Conde Nast in 2001.
FrontPoint manager accused of insider trading
The FBI arrested a former manager with Greenwich-based FrontPoint Partners and charged him on suspicion of insider trading.
Prosecutors allege Joseph Skowron III used inside information from a French doctor to unload stock in Human Genome Sciences and avoid $30 million in losses. He was released on a $6 million bond secured by a house in Greenwich.
After the investigation became public, FrontPoint was forced to shut down its health care hedge funds. The company said it has cooperated with investigators throughout the probe.
Report: Highgrove foreclosure auction scheduled
An investment group reportedly is moving to foreclose on the Highgrove condominium under construction in Stamford, scheduling a mid-April auction on the 95-unit high-rise.
According to the Stamford Advocate, a group called TriLyn L.L.C. is owed $18.3 million on a mezzanine loan made in 2008, while a $109 million loan issued in 2007 by Corus Bank is also the subject of a foreclosure action. Corus has since been acquired by Greenwich-based Starwood Capital Group.
Aquarion buys Bethel water utility
Aquarion Water Co. is buying water systems in four Fairfield County communities from Bethel-based Rural Water Co. Inc.
The systems in Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield and Ridgefield serve some 1,000 residents. Bridgeport-based Aquarion also recently acquired Topstone Water Co. in Ridgefield, which serves about 4,000 residents in the Danbury area.
Guilty pleas in child pool death
Stamford-based Shoreline Pools Inc. and its CEO David Lionetti pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in connection with the 2007 drowning of a Greenwich boy whose arm was sucked into a pool drain, trapping him.
Prosecutors said faulty pool design caused the death of Zachary A. Cohn, a 6-year-old whose father, Brian Cohn, was formerly president of SAC Capital Advisors in Stamford. After Zachary”™s death, the Cohns established The ZAC Foundation to advance water-safety initiatives in Connecticut, while creating a first-grade curriculum that encourages water safety, and ZAC Camps that teach water safety with swimming lessons.
After pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide, Lionetti received a one-year suspended sentence with three years”™ probation, 500 hours of community service and a public service project that requires him and Shoreline Pools to upgrade 100 area pools to comply with all legal requirements and building codes.
Shoreline Pools pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree and will pay $50,000 annually toward public service ads for water-safety education, mail pool safety brochures to residences with pools and distribute water safety information at two pool industry trade shows.
Mayors mark HUD funding
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia were among those announcing the debut of New York-Connecticut Sustainable Communities, a $3.5 million program to integrate housing, economic development, transportation and environmental planning in the region.
The initiative is spearheaded by the Regional Planning Association. RPA commemorated the funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at its Innovation and the Global City conference held in mid-April in New York City.
Just Kid takes Family Room moniker
Market research company Just Kid adopted the new name: The Family Room Strategic Consulting Group L.L.C., saying it better reflects families”™ collaborative decision-making styles.
The Family Room is led by founder and CEO George Carey. Clients have included McDonald”™s, PepsiCo and the Girl Scouts.
