Connecticut
CT school districts make push for more state aid
As talks on the next state budget hit a new phase, local officials are ramping up their push for more education aid.
New Haven officials made a public plea Thursday, asking the state to give more help as the city’s education budget faces a $23 million shortfall.
“The governor and the state legislature are sitting on a huge pile of money and there’s an obsession by the governor with protecting the fiscal guardrails,” Mayor Justin Elicker (D-New Haven) said.
Other school officials are leaving the fiscal guardrail debate to lawmakers, but agree education aid should be the top priority.
Connecticut Association of Boards of Education President Leonard Lockhart said school districts are doing their part to keep costs down.
“At the same time, there’s a lot of unfunded things that are in there as well as just not enough funding to do the basic job of the school district,” said Lockhart, who is also on Windsor’s school board.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget proposal would add $85 million next year for Education Cost Sharing Grants, the state’s primary form of aid to school districts.
“One of governor Lamont’s top priorities is ensuring that our children have access to the best possible educational system,” Office of Policy and Management spokesman Chris Collibee said in a statement.
Collibee also noted that New Haven’s per-pupil ECS funding has increased by 17.8% since Lamont (D-Connecticut) took office because those grants have increased as enrollment has dropped.
Still, Democratic lawmakers say they want to do more.
The proposal they advanced out of the Appropriations Committee Tuesday included another $26.2 million above what Lamont suggested for ECS. It also includes an extra $124 million for a separate pool of aid for special education.
Sen. Matt Lesser (D-Middletown) said the state will also need flexibility in the fiscal guardrails, a package of rules meant to limit state spending.
Lesser and other Democrats are also worried about additional cuts in federal aid as Republicans in Washington, D.C., have expressed a desire to slash federal aid.
Meanwhile, Attorney General William Tong (D-Connecticut) filed a lawsuit Friday to block President Donald Trump’s efforts to put conditions on education aid.
“We know that there are a lot of challenges coming to us from the federal government, including attacks on education funding, and so what we really need is just more flexibility,” Lesser said.
Republicans remain opposed to the increased spending or to changes to the guardrails.
Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-Minority Leader) said many schools are facing shortfalls because they used pandemic-era aid to cover ongoing operating expenses.
He also said the guardrails created the same surplus others want to utilize, so those budget constraints should remain in place.
“They’re there for a reason,” Candelora said. “It’s not just to restrict spending, but it’s actually to allow us to pay down on unfunded liabilities and not get government into crisis.”
Connecticut
Newington Ice Arena evacuated after high levels of carbon monoxide detected
The Newington Ice Arena was evacuated on Saturday night due to crews detecting high levels of carbon monoxide in the arena.
Firefighters responded to the Newington Ice Arena when they got reports of illness like headaches and vomiting.
“On our meters, it got as high as 200 parts per million,” Newington Volunteer Fire Captain Kirk Rosemond said. “Usually when we get anything over 40, 50 that requires us to go in here so that we can go further in and investigate.”
Rosemond said prolonged exposure of 200 parts per million of carbon monoxide can cause headaches and dizziness. He said prolonged exposure can lead to serious health issues or even death.
Rosemond said leaks are common in the winter.
“We see an uptick of that during the cold months, especially after a snowstorm,” he said. “Could be a simple thing of a blocked vent or a malfunctioning furnace or boiler that is probably overworking themselves.”
Crews and Connecticut Natural Gas located a faulty HVAC unit and an ice resurfacing machine as the cause of high levels of carbon monoxide found in the building.
Property management is working to resolve these issues.
Hockey games were happening at the arena since 9 a.m., according to the arena’s website.
Rosemond said no one was injured.
Connecticut
Connecticut golf course bought for $1.7M, now listed for $4.4M; redevelopment possible
Five years after snapping up a private Connecticut golf club for less than $2 million, its owners are now aiming for a far bigger return.
Quarry Ridge Golf Course — set among the rolling hills just outside Hartford — has hit the market, with a $4.4 million asking price, according to the commercial real estate site Crexi.com.
According to a story at the Middletown Press, some major renovations were made to the course, which opened as a 9-hole track in 1993. Another nine holes were added five years later.
The private golf course located at 9 Rose Hill Road last sold in early 2021 for $1.7 million to Tim and Patti Vale of Guilford and underwent extensive improvements to the conditions of the course and the renovation of the 7,000 square-foot clubhouse, which includes a golf shop, restaurant and bar, and a banquet facility.
According to the Portland Tax Assessor’s office, which lists the owner as Nexus Golf Properties, the land is currently appraised at $463,500 and the building is appraised at $3,148,800 for a total appraisal of 3,612,300. The property is assessed at $2,528,610.
According to the listing a total of $1.2 million was spent on enhancements, including the clubhouse renovations, air conditioning upgrades; patio construction to host events and banquets, golf course maintenance equipment, golf course enhancements, lighting, signage and improvements to owned home site on adjacent parcel to golf course.
While the listing says the course has reversed its fortunes in terms of cash flow since the new ownership group took over and reinvested in the property, zoning rules would allow for redevelopment, which could lead to single-family homes.
The course, which sits about 25 minutes south of Hartford, was designed by Joe Kelley and Al Zikorus.
Connecticut
Residents at Rocky Hill apartment complex evacuated over unsafe conditions; AG Tong explores legal action against management
It’s been 48 hours of chaos for hundreds of residents at the Concierge Apartments in Rocky Hill. The freezing cold temperatures over the last two weeks in Connecticut caused broken pipes and flooding in multiple buildings.
On Thursday, residents in two of five buildings had to be out by midnight due to frozen sprinkler systems. Now, according to a letter sent to residents in the remaining three buildings, all residents had to be out by midnight.
One resident, Ryan Callahan, and his family were part of the second wave of evacuations. They said the property has had issues going back for months, but recent conditions crossed the line.
Residents had been without heat and/or hot water for days. The initial damage, before the evacuations, prompted a scathing letter from Attorney General William Tong and local leaders to the apartment’s management company. Tong also criticized the company’s initial refusal to pay for other accommodations for residents seeking shelter before the mandatory evacuations were in place. The letter also criticized the company’s lack of communication and transparency with the residents.
In total, about 600 units were affected. Rocky Hill Mayor Allan Smith said renters were being put up in local hotels, but those were also causing some strain due to the demand.
NBC Connecticut reached out to the property owners, JRK Property Holdings, for a response, but hasn’t heard back yet.
However, the company did get back to Tong’s office.
In the letter, the company said that it has spent millions on improvements to the buildings since acquiring it in 2013, and that there “are currently no open violations or citations relative to plumbing.”
The company insists that all units currently have heat and running water and said that, despite reports of widespread heating loss, “only four of 500 units experienced heating loss.” They acknowledge that they were aware of 61 units with at least one fixture lacking hot water. The company said it expects repairs to be completed by the end of next week.
Despite Tong stating such in his initial letter, the management company said they did not see a basis for allowing tenants to break their leases.
Tong released a new letter responding to the management company on Friday, saying in part:
Your response is worse than tone deaf, it is callous. In this extreme cold – projected to be -2 and -3 degrees, respectively tomorrow and Sunday – your response could at best be characterized as indifferent,” the letter states. “Whether your client spent $22 million in the past or expect to spend $2 million now proves only one thing — Concierge Apartments has clearly not done enough to keep these residents safe and honor the legal and ethical obligations to them and their families. No doubt Concierge has put a price on their safety and whatever that price is decided to be is wholly inadequate.
It is unconscionable to demand that tenants, who are mostly working people now struggling to put a roof over their heads during the coldest stretch in recent memory, honor their contractual obligations to a Los Angeles-based real estate empire that boasts $15 billion in real estate assets under management in 23 states. This is particularly appalling when Concierge itself may be shirking their legal and contractual obligations. I am hard pressed to believe that a Connecticut court would see it any other way – and I anticipate that a Connecticut court would strongly consider these contracts to be voidable. This catastrophe has made Concierge, and its shadowy web of ownership interests, the posterchild for everything that is wrong with private equity owning a stake in basic goods and services.
In the meantime, residents can file a claim with the Rocky Hill Fair Rent Commission here.
The attorney general’s office said it is exploring “all legal options and expects to take additional action in the coming days.”
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