Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee
JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT
Bill No.: SB-1100
AN ACT CONCERNING THE FAILURE TO FILE FOR CERTAIN GRAND LIST
Title: EXEMPTIONS.
Vote Date: 4/22/2021
Vote Action: Joint Favorable
PH Date: 4/20/2021
File No.: 671
Disclaimer: The following JOINT FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee
REASONS FOR BILL:
This bill allows taxpayers to claim a property exemption for specific property and grand lists in
Hartford, Middlefield, Middletown and Plainville, notwithstanding certain statutory deadlines.
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
None expressed
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
Scott Kerner, CEO of Green Street Power Partners
Mr. Kerner testified in support of sections 2,4 and 5 of the Bill. He stated that Green Street
Power Partners is a Stamford based solar energy system financing, development, and
operations company with some newly acquired projects in Connecticut. He testified that with
the challenges of office shutdowns and other delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,
GSPP had a few projects for which those complications resulted in late or inaccurate filings
for the solar energy project tax exemption. His written testimony includes the full chronology
and outline of what transpired to provide the clearest picture of the events which caused their
delays and resulting penalties.
Mr. Kerner stressed that the company seeks to enhance their commitment to Connecticut
and to renewable energy overall, and that they hope the Committee will sympathize with the
difficulties of the last year and support their request for one time relief.
Deb Polun, Executive Director for the Connecticut Association for Community Action
Ms.Polun testified in support of sections 3 & 4 of the Bill. She stated that CAFCA is a small
nonprofit organization located in Middletown. They have four full-time employees that
provides training, technical assistance, and other programming to help Connecticuts
Community Action Agencies better serve low-income people across the state. She testified
that in July 2018, for the first time in over 40 years, CAFCA had moved to its own office
space. Unfortunately, due to the location change along with its leadership changes, CAFCA
did not file the appropriate paperwork with the City of Middletown thus alerting the City of
their nonprofit status resulting in the accrual of owed property taxes. Ms. Poulin hopes that by
passage of the bill it will help rectify their situation of owed taxes as our funds are already
stretched meeting the needs of their member agencies and the 200,000 low income people
they serve annually..
Pedro Soto, Owner and CEO of Hygrade Precision Technologies
Mr. Soto testified in support of the Bill. He stated that in October 2018, he acquired
ownership of Hygrade, a precision grinding, lapping and CNC machining service provider
serving the aerospace, medical and defense supply chains in Plainville. While the first several
months proved his decision to purchase Hygrade correct, the pandemic brought many supply
chains to a standstill, greatly impacting the business.
He testified that the 2020 Declaration of Personal Property and Grand List Manufacturing
Machinery and Equipment Exemption Claim was due to the Tax Assessors office on or
before November 2, 2020, however due to the stresses and challenges at the time, they
required more time to file our exemption claim. Due to a clerical misinterpretation they
completed the forms and hand delivered them to the Assessors office on Thursday
November 12th confident that they were granted an exemption. Shortly thereafter in a
conversation with the Plainville Assessor that they discovered they were not granted an
exemption and that the failure to file in a timely manner would result in an entire loss of their
manufacturing exemption along with an additional 25% penalty. With the penalty and loss of
the exemption, Hygrades taxes will increase by over $50,000.
Mr. Soto stated that the passage of SB1100 would help Hygrade and other companies who
fall into similar circumstances to not have to suffer such an enormous penalty for clerical
missteps.
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
None expressed
Reported by: Dawn Silveira Date: 5/13/21
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